OT (Off-Topic) Chatroom: 'English Delight'

[debbook]

I love Bill Bryson-he's very funny. I haven't read those books yet, I'll have to check them out.

---

Choisya wrote:

The programme on 'Quotations' was particularly good this morning, although, strangely, there were none from Shakespeare.  (It will be available on Listen Live tomorrow.)

Which reminds me to recommend Bill Bryson's book The Mother Tongue which explores the history and origins of the English language in an entertaining way.  You will be surprised to learn from this book just how many words and phrases we use every day which originated in Shakespeare's plays.     

Another good book by Bryson is  Shakespeare : The World as a Stage.  It is a lighthearted, readable book about the Bard's life or rather what we know of it, sorting fact from fiction.  

---

Choisya wrote:

Whilst you are downing a pint or two and pondering on Shakespeare's language, you might like to listen to this new 3-part series on our common heritage - the English language.

Cheers!

(And leave those great big American cars behind - no drinking and driving!)

Message Edited by Choisya on 08-27-2008 07:22 AM

---

---

[friery]

---

Choisya wrote:

The location for the film is 'northern Italy' and I think it is probably Tuscany and the Florence area. Here is a link to the largest and most famous palace near to Florence, the Pitti Palace, which also has some very fine wooded gardens called the Boboli. We could look to see if we can identify any of the statuary.

It is thought that Shakespeare wrote MND to celebrate a marriage and a very famous marriage in the Medici family took place at the Pitti Palace in 1565.  The Corridoia Vasariano was built to link the Palazzo Vecchio with the Palazzo Pitti and the bride, her guests and theatrical performers took this route to the wedding in all their finery. It passes over the river Arno via the Ponte Vecchio bridge, which is famous for its goldsmiths' shops..   I wonder if we shall see any of these famous places used in the film? 

---

Here's a full list of filming locations from IMDB:

Caprarola, Viterbo, Lazio, Italy
Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy (studio)

Sutri, Viterbo, Lazio, Italy
Tivoli, Rome, Lazio, Italy (interiors)

Tuscany, Italy
Villa Lante, Viterbo, Lazio, Italy (gardens)

[KathyS]

All:

I've come to this board to see what is being discussed concerning S....all I've seen so far are the same old discussions circling around nitpicky semantics...picking at scabs.  I've been there, and done that, and believe me, if the next discussion I'm on, which will be in LbW's The Green Knight, continues in this dark light, I'll have something further to say about it.

It's non productive to go over and over and over, pulling the same words into infinity.....What's black and white?  What's right and wrong.  What's objective and what is subjective in art.  Again, been there, done that....Sometimes it's just the way it is.  Get passed it and stop splitting hairs, already!  Discussion boards are meant for everyone to have a good time hearing other peoples points of views, and talking about them as they apply to your views, not debating what's on the head of a pin!....and not to pick each other's joints and points until they bleed all over these boards!  What's the point in that?  Hardball and hard nosed tactics are better left out of these groups. 

Unless a certain person refrains from these limb pullings, there will never be a discussion worth discussing, as long as that person is undermining them. Something has to give, and these types of discussions just run people from these boards.  I've talked to many of them as they run screaming out the door!  You loose a lot of good participants, and a lot of good discussion,  believe me.  My opinion, for what it's worth, is that everyone ignore posts that stop the flow of a discussion.   Choose the people you want to discuss a subject with.  Just a suggestion.

Kathy S.

[Everyman]

My opinion, for what it's worth, is that evryone ignore posts that stop the flow of a discussion.

Well, that post certainly stopped the flow of a discussion over what is legitimate or not legitimate in staging and interpreting Shakespeare, which was the specific topic of this thread.  So I will take that poster's advice and ignore that post.  

[ConnieAnnKirk]

Thanks for expressing your views and concerns about the need for a pleasant atmosphere for discussion on the boards, KathyS.  Any member is always free to PM me as moderator of this board or label a post as one that warrants moderator attention if one is concerned about the tone of the discussion at any point.  I'd like to see members resolve differences on their own among themselves (we are mostly all adults, after all), but I'm here to intervene if anyone feels that the atmosphere is not friendly or cordial or open to free discussion.  I do think your advice about ignoring and/or not engaging in posts which may 'push buttons' in terms of getting one's passions agitated is probably wise.

Your post gives me the opportunity to remind members of the BN.com guideline regarding respect and tone of discussion:

"Be respectful. The Book Clubs involve participants with a wide range of beliefs and ideas about the subjects they’re discussing. We encourage an open dialogue, but require that participants remain civil, courteous and respectful at all times. Please avoid any language that is abusive, intimidating, discriminatory, or otherwise objectionable. This also includes having a tone that is consistently critical, derogatory, insolent or otherwise negative. We reserve the right to edit or remove any post that violates these guidelines, and we further reserve the right to limit or suspend the access of any participant who violates these rules."

The full set of guidelines is available for rereading, here.

I hope you'll stop by again when and if the Shakespeare bug bites you!    We already have several lines of discussion going that are quite interesting, with more on the way!

~ConnieK

[Everyman]

Did Julius Caesar, by invading Britain, make the English sicker? 

This article suggests maybe yes!

[Laurel]

That doesn't make sense. Why is it wreaking havoc in sub-Saharan Africa?

---

Everyman wrote:

Did Julius Caesar, by invading Britain, make the English sicker? 

This article suggests maybe yes!

---

[Choisya]

It is true that invading explorers, armies and conquests bring diseases. The British took many killer diseases to their Empire, like measles, and in turn we got illnesses like smallpox back from them. So there may be something in this report although, as Laurel, points out, why are the parts of Africa not invaded by the Romans so badly affected with AIDS?    Currently there is a bed-bug 'epidemic' in the UK which is thought to have been triggered by folks returning from foreign holidays coupled with the recent lack of cold winters.    

Message Edited by Choisya on 09-06-2008 03:51 AM

[friery]

I saw a production of Troilus and Cressida, a play that's apparently not performed very often, in San Diego yesterday.  The play was very interesting, if a little hard to follow at first.

It was a small theater production, albeit with a professional cast.  The theater sat only 49 people.

There were nine actors performing nearly 20 roles.  Each of the actors would put on a slightly different cloak or scarf to change character from Greek to Trojan and back.  I came away with a great amount of respect for the players and how hard they worked to entertain us.

[Choisya]

I am absolutely certain that everyone here will enjoy this edition of Julius Caesar.

[Bolognaking]

A moment of silence please, people. The world has lost a great Shakespearean today in Richard Monette

[Everyman]

I will mourn his loss as the loss of a great Shakespearean actor and a tireless worker for the Stratford festival and theater community.

I will not, however, mourn the loss of a director who felt free to take the liberties with Shakespeare that he did.  

[RTA]

I’m very sorry for the loss.

But, let me say--and absolutely no disrespect intended--I got quite a chuckle out of Christopher Plummer calling Monette “the man who wouldn’t quit.”

[Choisya]

It is sad to see the loss of any Shakespearean actor particularly as the signs are that they are not being replaced.  In the UK many youngsters going into RADA and similar teaching institutions now have such appalling diction that they are quite unsuitable for Shakespearean parts without a great deal of retraining.  Indeed they are often unsuitable for many theatrical works and many producers here are complaining about this.  'Estuary English' is fast taking over 'Oxford English'. 

[Choisya]

This popular comic book series on Asterix the Gaul shows how fond British and European children still are of tales about the Romans.  Another popular comic (which my grandsons take) is The Beano which used to feature Julius Sneezer and the Roman Legions.  Of course we Brits (and Europeans other than the Italians always beat the Romans. 

[Everyman]

And we wonder why children don't understand history.  I suppose the French equivalents of these comics have Napoleon conquering Russia and winning the Battle of Waterloo.

---

Choisya wrote:
This popular comic book series on Asterix the Gaul shows how fond British and European children still are of tales about the Romans.  Another popular comic (which my grandsons take) is The Beano which used to feature Julius Sneezer and the Roman Legions.  Of course we Brits (and Europeans other than the Italians always beat the Romans. 

---

[Laurel]

Exactly what I was just thinking! (About Asterix; I don't know Beano.) I especially love the one about Asterix and Obelisk in Britain. It's hilarious in French.

---

Choisya wrote:
This popular comic book series on Asterix the Gaul shows how fond British and European children still are of tales about the Romans.  Another popular comic (which my grandsons take) is The Beano which used to feature Julius Sneezer and the Roman Legions.  Of course we Brits (and Europeans other than the Italians always beat the Romans. 

---

[Laurel]

Perhaps you would not understand them very well.

---

Everyman wrote:

And we wonder why children don't understand history.  I suppose the French equivalents of these comics have Napoleon conquering Russia and winning the Battle of Waterloo.

---

Choisya wrote:
This popular comic book series on Asterix the Gaul shows how fond British and European children still are of tales about the Romans.  Another popular comic (which my grandsons take) is The Beano which used to feature Julius Sneezer and the Roman Legions.  Of course we Brits (and Europeans other than the Italians always beat the Romans. 

---

---

[Choisya]

Yes they probably do.   My young grandson (8) loves such comics but he also has a very good grasp of history.  Making subjects fun can be an aid to learning, not a hindrance. I had a conversation with him about the Tudors only today - he has moved on from the Romans and tomorrow is going with his school to an exhibition of Tudor portraits at the National Gallery in London.  Hadrian and his exhibition was last month, old hat!    One of the things that is puzzling these days is that in infant/junior school they do not teach history in chronological order and put little emphasis on dates but it supposedly all comes together in senior school.  I cannot fault the method because all my grandchildren like and have a good knowledge of history, chronological or not.  At the age of seven one of my grand-daughters wrote a smashing  little essay about Florence Nightingale in the Crimea.    

---

Everyman wrote:

And we wonder why children don't understand history.  I suppose the French equivalents of these comics have Napoleon conquering Russia and winning the Battle of Waterloo.

---

Choisya wrote:
This popular comic book series on Asterix the Gaul shows how fond British and European children still are of tales about the Romans.  Another popular comic (which my grandsons take) is The Beano which used to feature Julius Sneezer and the Roman Legions.  Of course we Brits (and Europeans other than the Italians always beat the Romans. 

---

---