Month: September 2008

http://splashnewsonline.celebuzz.com/2008/09/kenneth-branagh-to-be-a-marvel.html Ok, this is pretty cool.  We’re at a place in time when comic book movies are huge.  Iron Man, Spiderman, Batman.  And they pick Kenneth Branagh, he of Hamlet and Henry V, to do Thor?  That should be downright fascinating.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/2008/09/24/the-seven-ages-of-man-revised-edition/ Maybe a writer was pressed for ideas, but I like it.  The usual “Top N List” form of Cracked.com articles in this case breaks down Shakespeare’s seven ages of man from As You Like it.  And, of course, makes witty comments.

So I’m sitting here watching pro-wrestling as I tend to do on Monday nights, and during some silly skit they’re doing I’m reminded that Playboy magazine hosts a party every summer called A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Pictures are relatively safe (no nudity – Playboy don’t be giving it away for free, after all), but not exactly for the whole family. I can’t figure out if it ever had any Shakespeare connection, ever, or if they just liked the name.  But who cares!

http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/sunday/fanfare/ny-ffthe5847168sep21,0,6567319.story You a Mandy Patinkin fan?  Geeks have loved him ever since The Princess Bride, well before Criminal Minds and even Chicago Hope.  Bonus points if you remember him under the makeup in Alien Nation.  (I did NOT remember Dr. Jeffrey Geiger, his Chicago Hope character, doing a guest spot on Picket Fences???) Anyway, if you’re wondering what he’s been up to, he’s doing Prospero in New York.  The review of the production itself doesn’t seem very good, but the reviewer’s got love for Mr. Patinkin.  Apparently he sings, too.  I’m trying to remember when I first heard him sing.  I think that David Letterman used to get him to do something with the band whenever he was a guest on the late show.  He’s got an excellent voice for Broadway.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09222008/tv/trivial_pursuits_130177.htm Apparently Adam Buckman of the NY Post doesn’t like the new season of Heroes. The heroes aren’t doing anything heroic, he says.  “Instead, this show, which was once so thrilling and fun, has become full of itself, its characters spouting crazy nonsense.” He then goes on to cite some of the crazy nonsense, noting that Malcolm McDowell “should win an Emmy for keeping a straight face while reciting these lines.” Oh, the lines? There’s a divinity that shapes our ends – rough hew them how we will. Yeah, that crazy nonsense is Hamlet. Screw that.  I’m watching My Name Is Earl.