"As he made his way over he had a couple of words with his hovering PRs, which was interesting to observe.Take that, Sillito.
You can often gain an insight into a star by the way his or her handlers respond in their presence.
Some are fearful, others tense; a few are colder than the mountains of Utah in winter. Bob's lot were calm but deferential. He knew them. Asked about their family lives. Teased them a bit.
Pleasantries over, he came out to the terrace. I asked if I could call him Bob, he couldn't see a reason why not."
"an insight into a star"
Film Will Gompertz, the BBC's arts editor, unravels the process of interviewing Robert Redford:
Angels and Ducats: Shakespeare’s Money & Medals
But the ducat is just one of dozens of units of currency which crop up in Shakepeare’s plays as they span history and geography and in Angels and Ducats: Shakespeare’s Money & Medals, Barrie Cook, the curator of Medieval and Early Modern Coinage at the British Museum utilises this national collection to explain some of the history of these now obscure units of commerce and their meaning within the texts. The book's published to coincide with a display opening in April which like the Summer exhibitions, relates the objects to the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, in theatrical economies of scale and the portrayal of royalty on the coins.
As Cook explains, for all the apparent obscurity that some of the language has now, Shakespeare was always concerned with making his stories lucid even if they were set in an earlier time and so although there was enough knowledge available to offer an accurate portrayal, he was unafraid to employ anachronisms as an aid to understanding. The Comedy of Errors, set in the ancient Mediterranean world pinions on the movement of “angels” and “ducats”. But they also provide a useful element of punning and allusion, “nobles” and “crowns” appearing in all the history plays both in plain speech and as a way of conveying satirically the authority being fought for.
But those of us perhaps slightly more interested in theatrical history will find most useful the chapter on how the business of acting was financed. Cook has compiled a chart itemising the cost of visiting the theatre in Shakespeare’s day and production budgets. What’s surprising is that theatre goers preferred comfort over visibility, the yard nearest the action (albeit standing) far cheaper than the upper galleries some way away from the stage, the exact opposite of the charging mechanics in modern theatres and concert halls were the cheap seats are at the very back, which in some older auditoriums might as well be in the pub next door.
The well chosen illustrations demonstrate that the physical nature of the currency hasn't changed that much across the centuries and almost always feature some monarch on one side, an indication of the denomination on the other. Cook also briefly touches on medals and they too follow a similar format which explains why they’re thought of as such an important part of our history. Some of the only illustrations we have of the notable Romans are the profiles which appear in archaeological discoveries, references to which are another way that Shakespeare is able make these ancient times and peoples more tangible.
Angels and Ducats: Shakespeare's Money and Medals by Barrie Cook is published by the British Museum. 2012. RRP: £9.99 paperback. ISBN: 9780714118215. Review copy supplied.
Angels and Ducats: Shakespeare's Money and Medals by Barrie Cook.
Even before the Euro, there were many units of currency which travelled across national borders, one of which was the ducat. The ducat was first minted in Sicily in the 1140s but would eventually spread across the continent for the next eight hundred odd years. Eurosceptics will be pleased to hear that Britain stuck with pounds, shillings and pence, but it still became one of Shakespeare’s most used currencies as a way of conveying extreme wealth. Ducat appears four times in Hamlet, most memorably in the prince's cry as he accidentally runs Polonius through as a reminder that he believes he’s killing his father-in-law.
But the ducat is just one of dozens of units of currency which crop up in Shakepeare’s plays as they span history and geography and in Angels and Ducats: Shakespeare’s Money & Medals, Barrie Cook, the curator of Medieval and Early Modern Coinage at the British Museum utilises this national collection to explain some of the history of these now obscure units of commerce and their meaning within the texts. The book's published to coincide with a display opening in April which like the Summer exhibitions, relates the objects to the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, in theatrical economies of scale and the portrayal of royalty on the coins.
As Cook explains, for all the apparent obscurity that some of the language has now, Shakespeare was always concerned with making his stories lucid even if they were set in an earlier time and so although there was enough knowledge available to offer an accurate portrayal, he was unafraid to employ anachronisms as an aid to understanding. The Comedy of Errors, set in the ancient Mediterranean world pinions on the movement of “angels” and “ducats”. But they also provide a useful element of punning and allusion, “nobles” and “crowns” appearing in all the history plays both in plain speech and as a way of conveying satirically the authority being fought for.
But those of us perhaps slightly more interested in theatrical history will find most useful the chapter on how the business of acting was financed. Cook has compiled a chart itemising the cost of visiting the theatre in Shakespeare’s day and production budgets. What’s surprising is that theatre goers preferred comfort over visibility, the yard nearest the action (albeit standing) far cheaper than the upper galleries some way away from the stage, the exact opposite of the charging mechanics in modern theatres and concert halls were the cheap seats are at the very back, which in some older auditoriums might as well be in the pub next door.
The well chosen illustrations demonstrate that the physical nature of the currency hasn't changed that much across the centuries and almost always feature some monarch on one side, an indication of the denomination on the other. Cook also briefly touches on medals and they too follow a similar format which explains why they’re thought of as such an important part of our history. Some of the only illustrations we have of the notable Romans are the profiles which appear in archaeological discoveries, references to which are another way that Shakespeare is able make these ancient times and peoples more tangible.
Angels and Ducats: Shakespeare's Money and Medals by Barrie Cook is published by the British Museum. 2012. RRP: £9.99 paperback. ISBN: 9780714118215. Review copy supplied.
The Titlebar Archive:
The West Wing
TV This is the moment in the final episode of The West Wing, Tomorrow, when Donna, Josh and Sam re-enter the White House for the first time, excited and tentatively looking ahead to four more years of challenges. "Home sweet home." Sam says. The theme of renewal seemed apt at the time I posted the image.
Shakespeare’s Britain
One of the consequences of the distillation is that focuses on the more distasteful elements of the exhibition, the engravings depicting executions, reliquaries containing disembodied eyes and torture devices for witches not to mention once of the lanterns reputedly used in the Gunpowder plot. We’re also reminded of how limited the medieval view of the world could be, with the native peoples from other parts of the world treated as curiosities, something Shakespeare himself referenced in The Tempest when Trinculo suggests he could display Caliban in London for profit.
Of the two, assuming you have the money, I’d still recommend the much larger catalogue which collects almost all the objects in the exhibition plus a few more and whose textual real estate is something which can be dipped in and out of in conjunction with a more general study of the plays. But Shakespeare’s Britain would probably the perfect gift for a curious teenager (assuming they still exist) who’s already somewhat aware of his biography but aren’t quite ready for a full blown academic study.
Shakespeare's Britain by Jonathan Bate and Dora Thornton, with Rebecca Allen is published by the British Museum. 2012. RRP: £9.99 paperback. ISBN: 9780714128269. Review copy supplied.
Shakespeare's Britain by Jonathan Bate and Dora Thornton, with Rebecca Allen.
Perhaps sensing that some visitors to their Shakespeare: staging the world exhibition would rather have a more visual keepsake rather than a larger academic study, the British Museum have also published a much smaller, more focused distillation of the exhibition’s themes. Also authored by Jonathan Bate and Dora Thornton with additional work by Becky Allen the exhibition’s project co-ordinator, Shakespeare’s Britain concentrates on high quality images of the objects and shorter, punchier explanations for their relevance to Shakespeare’s story.
One of the consequences of the distillation is that focuses on the more distasteful elements of the exhibition, the engravings depicting executions, reliquaries containing disembodied eyes and torture devices for witches not to mention once of the lanterns reputedly used in the Gunpowder plot. We’re also reminded of how limited the medieval view of the world could be, with the native peoples from other parts of the world treated as curiosities, something Shakespeare himself referenced in The Tempest when Trinculo suggests he could display Caliban in London for profit.
Of the two, assuming you have the money, I’d still recommend the much larger catalogue which collects almost all the objects in the exhibition plus a few more and whose textual real estate is something which can be dipped in and out of in conjunction with a more general study of the plays. But Shakespeare’s Britain would probably the perfect gift for a curious teenager (assuming they still exist) who’s already somewhat aware of his biography but aren’t quite ready for a full blown academic study.
Shakespeare's Britain by Jonathan Bate and Dora Thornton, with Rebecca Allen is published by the British Museum. 2012. RRP: £9.99 paperback. ISBN: 9780714128269. Review copy supplied.
"the bongs of Big Ben"
Radio This is probably outrageous of me, but one of the reasons I listen to Radio 4 is because it has nothing to do with where I live, for the escapism and wistful reminder that there is a life elsewhere. My favourite moment every day is the atmospheric pause at the end of PM and just before the bongs of Big Ben heralding the Six O'Clock News when you can hear the noise of the traffic in Parliament Square, not least because it also reminds me of a happy time spent there a couple of years ago with a good friend eating lunch [originally posted my me in comments of this Guardian piece].
"audio anthologies of Shakespearean verse"
Elsewhere Over the years I've collected some audio anthologies of Shakespearean verse and so I've decided to begin a new series on The Hamlet Weblog reviewing these fragments of drama. I've begun with the British Library's new Shakespeare’s original pronunciation cd (for which I was recently sent a review copy).
Shakespeare’s original pronunciation (2012).
Every now and then a project captures our imagination and if the number of RTs the link to the British Library’s press release on the @shakespearelogs twitter feed is anything to go by, there is much excitement about this release of extracts from the plays in what curator Ben Crystal and his advisor and father David Crystal are ninety-five percent certain is the original pronunciation as heard on the stage of the original Globe.
Even those of us who’re familiar with and love the work are sometimes desperate to hear a new interpretation of the words and since we know that sections of it have been rendered insensible through the natural evolution of our language, we can’t help tingling at the thought that we might, as the publicity suggests find new meanings, hear new jokes and enhanced poetic effects.
As Ben Crystal introduction in the accompanying booklet suggests, the accent is somewhat understandably like the West Country. But there are also find fragments of other regions, with Irish, Scottish, Cockney and Australian and yes, even Scouse surfacing between the syllables. The stress patterns are also somewhat close to American, explaining why the text has always seem so sympathetic to some of the best US actors.
An introduction from David Crystal outlines the sources their creative decisions, which includes Ben Jonson’s English Grammar as an invaluable resource. But though he’s aware that the results are still experiment, he strikes a note of disappointment that since the work of John Barton and Helge Kokeritz in the 1950s, theatrical experiments even at the Globe reconstruction have been tentative.
Act II, Scene II:
“My excellent good friends! How dost thou, / Guildenstern? Ah, Rosencrantz! Good lads, how do ye both?”
Hamlet: Ben Crystal
Rosencrantz: Simon Manyonda
Guildenstern: Benjamin O’Mahony
In 2011, Crystal starred in an complete production of Hamlet in this original pronunciation as part of the Nevada Repertory Company, with a cast largely populated by undergraduates and advised by Eric Rasmussen (co-editor on the RSC Complete Works and Folio detective). That explains why of all the project's contributing actors he seems most comfortable with these new (or rather old) sounds ably supposed by his fellow cast members, National Theatre regular Manyonda and O’Mahony from the Tobbaco Factory.
The first thing to notice is the speed with which the text flows, especially in Hamlet’s solo section towards the end, and the rhythm which, although certainly available in some modern productions, has in the initial banter, hints of Samuel Beckett’s too and fro in Waiting for Godot and emphasises the filthiness of the initial metaphor (“strumpet”, “private parts”). Not that some sections don’t become oddly prosaic, especially the extra-syllable in “ambition”, the “sh” sound replaced by “si”.
The biggest surprise is in having heard the text acted so often with a regal accent, something grasping towards received pronunciation, we're suddenly given a prince and friends who sound not unlike characters propping up a bar in one of the regional soap operas. There's also a naturally familial connection that sometimes isn’t quite communicated in the so-called traditionalist performances, where the usual clipped annunciation can sometimes create an isolation between the characters.
Act III, Scene One:
“To Be, Or Not To Be”
Hamlet: Matthew Mellalieu
Crystal shows surprising restraint in programming what’s arguably Shakespeare’s most famous speech as late as track eight, but it does give the listener a chance to become somewhat use to these new sounds. This isn’t easy but admittedly more pleasurable from the female actors, Joan Walker’s Sonnet 18 sounding almost as naughty as the Cadbury’s Caramel bunny. But I’m straying from the point. Once “To Be, Or Not To Be” arrives we’re ready for it.
Matthew Mellalieu's reading chooses to emphasise sounds over performance so the differences can be heard much more clearly. When Pebbles sang “Question” in such a curious way in the bottom end of her 80s song “Girlfriend” referencing this very speech, did she know she was utilising a four hundred year old pronunciation? The fs are silent (“O’ troubles”) as are the hs (“The t’ousand”). Double Es become singulars “(To slep”). Cowards sound like “chords”.
The only way to really know how this original pronunciation works would be across a whole performance. The effect must be somewhat like a Northern Broadsides production in which we’re constantly aware of the extra layer of interpretation beyond the usual directorial hand in terms of deciding how the vernacular is communicated. Hopefully, thanks to the interest in this cd, we'll be hear the experiment extended across a longer duration.
Shakespeare’s original pronunciation is published by the British Library. RRP: £10.00. ISBN 978 0 978-0-7123-5119-5. Review copy supplied.
Lovefilm's unable to carry titles distributed by Universal Pictures
Film Much as I love Lovefilm, one of its disappointing, annoying quirks is that unlike Blockbuster, Lovefilm's unable to carry titles distributed by Universal Pictures which are either missing from their database or else have a page which only has a link through to Amazon for the purchase of the title (and a hundred comments/reviews underneath asking why it isn't available to rent and what am I paying my subscription for anyway?).
A couple of weeks ago having ascertained The Thing prequel won't be available, a title I wouldn't necessarily want to buy, I shot off an email to Universal itself asking the big question. They sent me this statement:
If it's simply that Universal have signed an exclusivity deal with Blockbuster they should say that. Not that it can be that because it seems, as they suggest in their email, that they've signed with everyone but Lovefilm.
This is a bit of a first world problem I know, but I do wonder what the tipping point would be, how many customers would have to complain before Universal and Lovefilm start negotiating again and this could be sorted out. Please.
A couple of weeks ago having ascertained The Thing prequel won't be available, a title I wouldn't necessarily want to buy, I shot off an email to Universal itself asking the big question. They sent me this statement:
Dear Mr Burns,To which I replied:
Many thanks for your email.
Universal Pictures (UK) Limited is committed to producing and distributing high quality content for the viewing pleasure of as many UK consumers as possible. Films are very expensive to produce and represent a huge investment for studios. As a business, we are obliged to earn a reasonable commercial return on the value of our content. Whilst there are many new rental models in the market, some of these do not operate to provide a viable return on our investment. In those instances, Universal new release product is not available to consumers via these outlets, until we can agree mutually satisfactory trading terms.
Please note, however, that Blockbuster online have agreed terms with us and our product is therefore available to rent on their site. In addition there are various other retail outlets, both physical and online, where you are able to rent or purchase Universal product.
We hope you are able to continue to enjoy Universal's product and would thank you again for your email.
Kind regards
Universal UK
"I would ask, in reply, in that case why every other major distributor has agreed to Lovefilm's terms, even if admittedly 20th Century Fox have agreed that only dvd copies have been supplied. I would also add that since I can no longer make it to the cinema and Lovefilm is the only rental service I can afford, I have been unable to enjoy any of Universal's product (especially the likes of Paul or The American) over the past few years and I'm not the only person who's in this situation."No reply was forthcoming. I've also not had a reply from Lovefilm who I also emailed asking which of Universal's terms they wouldn't agree to and to speculate on what Blockbuster are doing right.
If it's simply that Universal have signed an exclusivity deal with Blockbuster they should say that. Not that it can be that because it seems, as they suggest in their email, that they've signed with everyone but Lovefilm.
This is a bit of a first world problem I know, but I do wonder what the tipping point would be, how many customers would have to complain before Universal and Lovefilm start negotiating again and this could be sorted out. Please.
" important in responding to DNA damage"
Science University of Liverpool researchers have discovered the tree of life. Or rather the part of the genome in some animals like tortoises which explains why they have such long lives and could be utilised in the future to slow our ageing process:
"The team looked at the genome of more than 30 mammalian species to identify proteins that evolve in connection with the longevity of a species. They found that a protein, important in responding to DNA damage, evolves and mutates in a non-random way in species that are longer-lived, suggesting that it is changing for a specific purpose. They found a similar pattern in proteins associated with metabolism, cholesterol and pathways involved in the recycling of proteins."Who wants to live forever? Well ...
the British Museum’s summer exhibition, Shakespeare: staging the world
Opening in July, the British Museum’s summer exhibition, Shakespeare: staging the world (which is their contribution to Cultural Olympiad) seeks to illuminate objects from the collection like the robes of a Mediterranean pirate through the prism of his plays, his life and his world. As with any cultural achievement, Shakespeare's work will have been understood by a specific collective memory and while most of us non-academics are able to gain a sense of the words and stories, even if we’re particularly familiar some of the plays there will still be certain specific references beyond our understanding. By presenting the visitor with the things which would have been familiar to the people of the period, the British Museum hopes we'll a greater understanding of the more curious aspects of the texts.
In this accompanying catalogue exhibition curator Dora Thornton and her Shakespearean consultant Jonathan Bate provide even greater context for the objects either because they’re specifically mentioned in the text, are directly related to Shakespeare biography in some way or as is most often the case are thematically connected to the plays. To extent this is a natural progression from the chapter in Bate’s Soul of the Age, which forensically reconstructed Shakespeare’s library based on the sources he must have read. This is a selection of objects that would or at least could have been equally inspirational, even indirectly. Some selections might initially seem tenuous but keep with it and connections fire off in all directions.
The book is packed with explanations as interesting as Hamlet’s brief naval dalliance. When Othello mentions the kind of Spanish rapier he's utilising as his means of his suicide, Shakespeare isn’t simply providing colour, he’s still telling us something about the kind of man the moor is, as interested in fashion as the ability to defend oneself. When he says that's constructed from ‘ice-brook’s templar’ he’s indicating that a cheap dagger simply isn’t good enough to bring him down (and even in texts when it's read as “Insbrook” also a source of good quality metal). On the opposite page is a more traditional Turkish sword with its familiar banana shape, which is fine and with a simple hilt and broad, bland blade, still deadly but without the panache or sleek, smooth shape of Othello’s death bringer.
Unlike Soul of the Age, the catalogue lacks a single argument as such, preferring instead to choose single topics (witchcraft) or a geographical locations (Venice or The Tempest’s unnamed island) and provide case study which oscillates between general and specific, submerging the reader in the mountain of facts and anecdotes perhaps in an attempt to mimic the experience of travelling through the exhibition. Ours eyes shift curiously from a bear skull to Horary quadrant the woollen cap which was compulsory for people over the age of six on Sundays and holidays in the 1570s. The effect is bewildering and requires some effort on the part of the reader to reorientate themselves as the authors shift us back and forth through centuries at the turn of the page, from Richards II to III in an instant.
But it’s always rewarding. The book is strongest when considering those Histories in the context of what would have been for him the contemporary monarchy. A portrait of Richard II by an unknown artist is shown to be the reason for Elizabeth I’s oft repeated quote “I am Richard know yet not that?” rather than an “illegal” performance of the play as is commonly thought having been found “fastened to the backside of a door of a base room” in the Palace of Westminster and put in a more prominent position on the Queen’s orders. Its structure, the monarch bolt upright in his throne, orb and sceptre in hand, also influenced the coronation portrait of Elizabeth also included (and perhaps this shot of Ben Wishaw as Richard II in the new BBC adaptation of Shakespeare’s play).
There’s certainly an argument to be made for a more structured approach and that in some respects the text is justifying the inclusion in the exhibition of some gorgeous objects not often given the opportunity for exhibition that only have a tangential connection to Shakespeare. But in other senses it doesn’t matter given how memorable they are. Each page is filled with surprising objects and although some, like the Murano jug reputedly blown by writer Thomas Coryat on his grand tour aren’t done justice in photography, there’s still some excitement in seeing a painting of some anonymous noble and then an adjacent photo of the very tunic he’s wearing still in pristine condition. Those of you able to see the actual exhibition when it opens will be very lucky indeed.
Shakespeare: staging the world by Jonathan Bate & Dora Thornton is published by the British Museum. 2012. £25 in paperback, ISBN 9780714128245. £40 in hardback, ISBN: 9780714128283. Review copy supplied.
Shakespeare: staging the world by Jonathan Bate & Dora Thornton.
Pirates! What’s often forgotten about Hamlet is that amongst the psychological introspection and political intrigue, the prince’s mortality is delayed by the left of field plot device of joining a band of pirates. But what’s all the more remarkable that for all the indignation contemporary Horatio actors include in their performance when reading this ludicrous tale, it’s not there in the text. That's because for Shakespeare and so presumably his audience it was a fairly normal occurrence. In that period there was a spate of incidents in which bored or bankrupt nobles “turned Turk” and joined a Mediterranean pirate ship. We might even wonder if, since some of the most notorious cases happened over a decade after Hamlet was premiered, the play actually promoted piracy as a valid lifestyle choice.
Opening in July, the British Museum’s summer exhibition, Shakespeare: staging the world (which is their contribution to Cultural Olympiad) seeks to illuminate objects from the collection like the robes of a Mediterranean pirate through the prism of his plays, his life and his world. As with any cultural achievement, Shakespeare's work will have been understood by a specific collective memory and while most of us non-academics are able to gain a sense of the words and stories, even if we’re particularly familiar some of the plays there will still be certain specific references beyond our understanding. By presenting the visitor with the things which would have been familiar to the people of the period, the British Museum hopes we'll a greater understanding of the more curious aspects of the texts.
In this accompanying catalogue exhibition curator Dora Thornton and her Shakespearean consultant Jonathan Bate provide even greater context for the objects either because they’re specifically mentioned in the text, are directly related to Shakespeare biography in some way or as is most often the case are thematically connected to the plays. To extent this is a natural progression from the chapter in Bate’s Soul of the Age, which forensically reconstructed Shakespeare’s library based on the sources he must have read. This is a selection of objects that would or at least could have been equally inspirational, even indirectly. Some selections might initially seem tenuous but keep with it and connections fire off in all directions.
The book is packed with explanations as interesting as Hamlet’s brief naval dalliance. When Othello mentions the kind of Spanish rapier he's utilising as his means of his suicide, Shakespeare isn’t simply providing colour, he’s still telling us something about the kind of man the moor is, as interested in fashion as the ability to defend oneself. When he says that's constructed from ‘ice-brook’s templar’ he’s indicating that a cheap dagger simply isn’t good enough to bring him down (and even in texts when it's read as “Insbrook” also a source of good quality metal). On the opposite page is a more traditional Turkish sword with its familiar banana shape, which is fine and with a simple hilt and broad, bland blade, still deadly but without the panache or sleek, smooth shape of Othello’s death bringer.
Unlike Soul of the Age, the catalogue lacks a single argument as such, preferring instead to choose single topics (witchcraft) or a geographical locations (Venice or The Tempest’s unnamed island) and provide case study which oscillates between general and specific, submerging the reader in the mountain of facts and anecdotes perhaps in an attempt to mimic the experience of travelling through the exhibition. Ours eyes shift curiously from a bear skull to Horary quadrant the woollen cap which was compulsory for people over the age of six on Sundays and holidays in the 1570s. The effect is bewildering and requires some effort on the part of the reader to reorientate themselves as the authors shift us back and forth through centuries at the turn of the page, from Richards II to III in an instant.
But it’s always rewarding. The book is strongest when considering those Histories in the context of what would have been for him the contemporary monarchy. A portrait of Richard II by an unknown artist is shown to be the reason for Elizabeth I’s oft repeated quote “I am Richard know yet not that?” rather than an “illegal” performance of the play as is commonly thought having been found “fastened to the backside of a door of a base room” in the Palace of Westminster and put in a more prominent position on the Queen’s orders. Its structure, the monarch bolt upright in his throne, orb and sceptre in hand, also influenced the coronation portrait of Elizabeth also included (and perhaps this shot of Ben Wishaw as Richard II in the new BBC adaptation of Shakespeare’s play).
There’s certainly an argument to be made for a more structured approach and that in some respects the text is justifying the inclusion in the exhibition of some gorgeous objects not often given the opportunity for exhibition that only have a tangential connection to Shakespeare. But in other senses it doesn’t matter given how memorable they are. Each page is filled with surprising objects and although some, like the Murano jug reputedly blown by writer Thomas Coryat on his grand tour aren’t done justice in photography, there’s still some excitement in seeing a painting of some anonymous noble and then an adjacent photo of the very tunic he’s wearing still in pristine condition. Those of you able to see the actual exhibition when it opens will be very lucky indeed.
Shakespeare: staging the world by Jonathan Bate & Dora Thornton is published by the British Museum. 2012. £25 in paperback, ISBN 9780714128245. £40 in hardback, ISBN: 9780714128283. Review copy supplied.
"Tak."
The Duchess of Cornwall with actress Sofie Gråbøl during a visit to the set of Danish TV drama The Killing in Lynge, a photo by The British Monarchy on Flickr.
"between 1,000 and 3,000 paintings"
Art Recently I wrote giddily about the addition of National Museums Liverpool's collection to the Your Paintings section on the BBC's website and had questions about how the project was pulled together.
Well, a conference is happening at the beginning of April and amongst the speakers are a contingent from Your Paintings who'll present this paper explaining their motives and with plenty of technical detail on both the website and how the images were pulled together:
Meanwhile, I've also noticed the Royal Shakespeare Company's art collection has been added, a hundred and forty-one specimens including Cecil Beaton's portrait of David Warner.
Well, a conference is happening at the beginning of April and amongst the speakers are a contingent from Your Paintings who'll present this paper explaining their motives and with plenty of technical detail on both the website and how the images were pulled together:
"The digitization programme involves two project teams. The first is the Field Team, comprising pairs of freelance researchers and photographers working together across the country. Central to this approach was the decision at the start of the project to divide the country into counties or regions (or sometimes single large collections) that had between 1,000 and 3,000 paintings. This was considered to be a reasonable number of paintings for a two-person team (researcher and photographer) to undertake over a twelve- to eighteen-month period.Metadata was pulled together from Excel spreadsheets with information supplied by each venue. What's perhaps more interesting is the paintings were photographed with their frames and glaze which were then removed in post production. Yes, interesting.
"The second team is the Editorial and Production Team based in London, which is responsible for processing the images and data that are sent in from the field, clearing copyright, and ensuring that the images and data are ready to be put online."
Meanwhile, I've also noticed the Royal Shakespeare Company's art collection has been added, a hundred and forty-one specimens including Cecil Beaton's portrait of David Warner.
Baking.
The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall visit Salta Kvarn, a photo by The British Monarchy on Flickr.
"rewrites can go back and forth"
TV How The Daily Show is written. Two staff writers outline to some journalism students how a script is put together:
"These first drafts go to the producers, head writer, and John Stewart. The rewrites can go back and forth until nearly 3 p.m., when rehearsals start. Stewart makes even more changes so the jokes flow in his own voice. Taping starts at 6 p.m.The main message of the post is that nothing is easy. Everything requires hard work. Oh look, it's that feeling in the pit of my stomach again.
"The next day, it begins anew.
"Parang joked that his first script for The Daily Show was so heavily edited, all that survived of his own words were, “Welcome to The Daily Show, my name is Jon Stewart.”
Twitter Hamlet.
The Toronto Sun reports English teacher Danika Barker is using Twitter to teach Shakespeare to her students at Central Elgin Collegiate Institute in St. Thomas:
You can make the role as big as you wanted." Barker said. "It wasn't . . . tweeting for the sake of tweeting. It was more like a strategy to get them to focus on what was really happening in the play and to become really invested in what was happening."Worth visiting for the accompanying photo of Barker clutching an edition of The Shakespeare Encyclopaedia (reviewed by me here) which thanks to its weight can't have been an easy volume to hold at that angle.
"Using Twitter kept every student involved in the play regardless of the size of their character's role.
"For example, students taking on a character who meets an early demise -- and there's plenty of them in Hamlet -- continued to tweet from the grave.
"Hamlet! My son! do not engage in this fight! you're falling into Claudius's trap if you fight laertes!" Hamlet's dead father tweeted before the prince was killed in a duel."
Paolo Sorrentino’s This Must Be The Place
Film One of the best sketches to emanate from 80s comedy show The Mary Whitehouse Experience featured Rob Newman dolled up as Robert Smith from The Cure singing nursery rhymes or upbeat songs like Tie Me Kangeroo Down Sport attempting to parody the bands sudden lurch into happy material with Friday I'm Love. In on the joke, Smith himself later appeared to sing "The Sun Has Got His Hat On" but I always wondered what would happen if they'd stretched the joke to show the otherwise depressive Smith in more mundane settings, such as on a date or at the bank.
Paolo Sorrentino’s This Must Be The Place initially seems as though it’s going to be a big screen version of that very idea. Cheyenne (Sean Penn) is a washed up 80s rock star who the director says is heavily influence by Smith who stumbles about Dublin seemingly without purpose. Dressed all in black, alabaster make-up contrasted by rouge lipstick, his fringe annoyingly falling across his face so that he has to blow it away from his eyes every few seconds, his eyes fixed ahead when they’re not covered by sun-glassed, he looks like an animated cut-out from Smash Hits Magazine, attracting stares from the locals, even those who don’t recognise him from his pop career.
With deadpan wit, Sorrentino places this figure in the antiseptic surroundings of shopping malls and suburban streets, approaching each action like an alien whose never had to buy pizza in a supermarket before, his monotone whisper just clear enough for him to function in a world that his childlike nature keeps him at odds with. It’s only in the company of people he’s familiar with like Mary, the daughter of a band mate (Eve Hewson) and his wife Jane (Frances McDormand) that he comes out of his shell a bit, largely because they force him to, the latter challenging him to ball games in the empty swimming pool in the grounds of him mansion.
As deliberately entertaining as this opening half hour is, there’s always a nagging sense that like his title character, writer and director Sorrentino isn’t entirely sure what to do next and the material won’t stretch much beyond showing us the incongruous sight of Cheyenne playing the stock market or nibbling through a pizza in a dining room below a neon sign that says “cuisine”. But then the film makes a magnificent leap which takes Cheyenne and us on a surprising and rather poignant journey which works best if the viewer knows as little about beforehand as possible. Ignore the synopses if you can. You’ll thank me.
What we can say is that this is strangely a comedy drama about guilt. Cheyenne’s guilt about a fan’s reaction turned sour, astonishingly enunciated by Penn in one of the film's key scenes, the guilt of not living up to his parent’s expectations, of finding oneself at odds with society’s expectations. But also for various reasons, the guilt of history and the extent to which humiliations inflicted and carried should be experienced and re-experienced across a life and whether it’s ever possible to let go. Cheyenne’s own baggage is given physical manifestation throughout, first as a shopping trolly then as a case on wheels, forever dragged along behind.
Sean Penn dissolves into personality of Cheyenne, and the funniest moments are when he allows this porcelain visage to shatter into more human expressions. In Thomas Vinterberg’s underrated futuristic meditation It’s All About Love, Penn plays a man who is medically incapable of living on land, spending his entire life orbiting the planet by plane. Cheyenne’s feet are on terra firm but his mind is elsewhere and it’s to Penn’s credit that it never becomes the exaggerated parody of Newman’s Smith. He remains grounded enough and likeable enough for people to strangely warm to him, in spite of his appearance.
In a role which was written for her, McDormand catches the tone that’s required for the kind of woman who’d logically be wife to this kind of man, part groupie, part mother figure. How they became involved is never quite explained, but it’s clear she treats life with him as kind of fantasy adventure, her supplementary career as a fire fighter providing a much needed dose of reality. Another of my favourite but generally underused actors, Kerry Condon, appears in a small but pivotal role and provides some of the best screen tears I’ve seen a long time, her entire body distended and shaking.
As the title suggests, the other remarkable element of This Must Be The Place is the music of David Byrne and the Talking Heads which pulses from radios, televisions and in shopping malls throughout both in their original form and covered by other bands. Byrne himself wanders in at the halfway point playing a version of himself who’s an old friend and mentor to Cheyanne in a unforgettable incident in an old theatre, whose interior is crumbling in tandem with Penn's pop star’s personality. Unsurprisingly its Byrne’s music which aids in his psychological recovery and listening again to Little Creatures as I write, I can absolutely understand why.
I was lucky enough to be invited to a preview screening of This Must Be The Place at FACT Liverpool this morning.
They'll be screening it as part of the Slackers Club at 9pm on Wednesday 28th March.
Then they will be showing the film on general release from Friday 13th April.
the first trailer for the next series of Doctor Who
TV Here it is then, in slightly better quality than the bootleg convention version which has been doing the rounds, the first trailer for the next series of Doctor Who, or what was happening in Spain, or the bits which were finished off in time:
Expect references to toothaches and hopefully a reprise of the Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon.
Expect references to toothaches and hopefully a reprise of the Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon.
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