Sep. 11th, 2008

thehefner: (Hamlet: Monologue)
... till he be eas'd with being nothing."

It's amazing what one can find on YouTube these days.

RICHARD II, starring Derek Jacobi with John Gielgud as John of Gaunt. One of the two or three genuinely brilliant productions from the BBC's complete Shakespeare series.



EDIT: Blast, I thought they posted the whole thing on there. Here, instead of the first scene, have the last one, to contrast with the Rylance one below.

It's available on DVD, so one way or another, this is an absolute must-see. Jacobi's performance moves me to tears, especially with his "NO!!!" But my first introduction to this little-seen play came when I saw Mark Rylance's production at the Globe in London.

And why oh why oh why did I not know the BBC filmed the Globe production?!



It's only on YouTube in excerpts. Where the hell can I get a full recording?! It's not often you can have a filmed version of one of the greatest Shakespearean theatrical experiences of your life.

God, RICHARD II. I cannot imagine a Shakespeare play that could possibly be more punishing to read yet rewarding to see live (and done well). It's a whole play entirely devoid of action and filled with long, long speeches of self-pity. But what self-pity. In the hands of Jacobi and Rylance, self-pity becomes heartwrenching, saintly, even angelic, which is all the more remarkable coming from a character who started off the play as a petulant jerkass, not unlike my version of King John. Yet the more power he loses, he more dignity and grace he gains.

Man, I need to get full versions of both productions. Like, yesterday.

EDIT AGAIN: There was a TV production in 1970 of Ian McKellen as Richard?! Egad, it must be mine!
thehefner: (Harvey Dent: Community Organizer)
I usually keep my damn trap shut when it comes to politics. I enjoy reading (but not commenting on) the political thoughts of folks here, particularly [livejournal.com profile] interdisciple, [livejournal.com profile] tompurdue, [livejournal.com profile] pokeyburro, [livejournal.com profile] dryponder, [livejournal.com profile] box_in_the_box, and [livejournal.com profile] madmoisellestar*. Ever since Sarah Palin came onto the scene, I've been checking [livejournal.com profile] ontd_political on a near-hourly basis, even though I suspect it's not good for the ol' blood pressure.

Yet all the same, I keep my damn trap shut. Most of my beliefs are being better said by more passionate and eloquent individuals, and the last time I made the mistake of discussing one of the others, it ended up... well, let's just say "badly." It got better! But still, a potent reminder of why I snap my yap.

But a couple videos have come to my attention. One is from the best kept secret in Late Night, Craig Furgeson. Why the hell don't I watch him every night? From a sheer monologuist's standpoint, he's one of my heroes. The dude's a brilliant tangentist (we deserve a title), hilarious but always seeming open and honest and not afraid to go serious and make it work. His monologue about the death of his father was particularly powerful, and his Britney Spears monologue (where he discussed his dark alcoholic past) was fantastic. This is from last night.

"If you don't vote, you're a moron."



Damn straight.

What's really sad is if the major news networks were successful in trying to be the Daily Show, we'd be seeing shit like this on the actual news rather than on some comedy show:



I love the Daily Show, I watch it every time, but they haven't been that scathing and dead-on in a long time. Or at least, not often enough. With videos like the following, I wonder if I'll have to check out the Onion's videos for my more hardcore political satire.

"Portrayal Of Obama As Elitist Hailed As Step Forward For African Americans."


Portrayal Of Obama As Elitist Hailed As Step Forward For African Americans

Magnificent.

Okay, back to talking about the Harvey Dent Monologues (or whatever this blog is about) before the arguments start.



*Who made the single best comment I've ever heard on spiteful Hillary voters threatening to vote for McCain over Obama: "It's like you started looking to buy a new car, and you were thinking Hybrid. You decided you wanted the Prius, but only the Fit was in stock near you, so what do you do? Fuck it, you're gettin' an Escalade. That'll show them."
thehefner: (Two-Face: How *YOU* Doin')
I really, really liked THE DARK KNIGHT. Parts of it, I outright loved. But the next person who says that it's a brilliant film, flawless and a masterpiece, I'm gonna send them this:

In the tradition of Movies in Fifteen Minutes: THE DARK KNIGHT: The 'Abridged Script'.

I tried to quote my favorite highlights, but soon realized I'd end up copy-pasting half the "script" here. But I've gotta mention this:

Spoilers, just in case someone hasn't actually seen THE DARK KNIGHT yet )

Magnificent.

I'm anxious to finally see TDK in IMAX this weekend, ready to embrace all the things I do love about the film (being the majority) but the more this film continues to be hyped, the less willing I am to forgive its flaws.

Still, it's a testament to a film that I was so incredibly hyped to see over the past two years that, even with all the problems I had with the final movie, I still wasn't disappointed with the overall experience.

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