Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Green Eggs and Hamlet



Since today is the bard's birthday, I thought I'd entertain you with some Shakespeare humor. And who said literature couldn't be fun?

Green Eggs and Hamlet (Author Unknown)

I ask to be, or not to be.
That is the question, I ask of me.
This sullied life, it makes me shudder.
My uncle's boffing dear, sweet mother.
Would I, could I, take my life?
Could I, should I, end this strife?
Should I jump out of a plane?
Or throw myself before a train?
Should I from a cliff just leap?
Could I put myself to sleep?
Shoot myself, or take some poison?
Maybe try self immolation?
To shudder of this mortal coil,
I could stab myself with a fencing foil.
Slash my wrists while in the bath?
Would it end my angst and wrath?
To sleep, to dream, now there's the rub.
I could drop a toaster in my tub.
Would all be glad, if I were dead?
Could I perhaps kill them instead?
This line of thought takes consideration-
For I'm the king of procrastination.



Later this summer, a friend and I are going to the Tennessee Shakespeare Festival's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The production will be on the campus of The Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, a town famous for its RC and Moon Pie Festival.

Actor-director Lane Davies brings this production to Bell Buckle and promises a "twist of scene and accent" and plenty of surprises. Davies is known for his roles on "General Hospital" and "Santa Barbara" and was voted the best villain for his role as Tempus (beating out Lex Luthor in the process) in several episodes of "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman." This should be loads of fun, provided the mosquitoes don't carry us off first. Note to self: buy insect repellent.

Speaking of green, yesterday was Earth Day and I did my part by using my cloth shopping bags at the grocery and using a eco-friendly animal repellant to try and ward off the wascally wabbits that are eating my flowers and herbs. I also bought a large plastic owl to move from spot to spot in hopes the wabbits will think he's real.

It was in the 80's today and I loved it! I spent part of the day planting new flowers and basil to replace the ones the rabbits ate and soaking up that vitamin D. Of course, I'll be singing another tune in August when the humidity is 98% and we're sweltering.

Are you as excited as I am that spring is here?

Word of the day: non sequitur

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is your favorite Shakespearean play?

www.bookhabit.com

Problem Child said...

Oh, how I love the Bard. I'm such a geek...

My favorite plays are Much Ado, Henry V, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. I'm also a fan of his sonnets.

~Down, Lit Geek, down. If I get started, I might not stop~

Barbara Vey said...

Much Ado is my favorite too and I loved the ode to Shakespeare. It's sunny and 60 here...I'm thrilled.

Lynn Raye Harris said...

I'm a tragedy girl! LOVE Hamlet. Greatest damn thing ever written. The "To Be" soliloquy, though quite amusing in Dr. Suess speak, is one of the most amazing, most poignant, most thought-provoking passages in all of literature. IMO. :)

Love Macbeth, Henry V (and Kenneth Branagh's version is to DIE for! Talk about making it accessible for the masses. Gorgeous production!

Othello infuriates me -- Iago is the most amazingly evil creature, Desdemona is a picture of TSTL (really, it didn't originate with romance writers!), Othello is the ultimate alpha jerk -- and still I love it.

I also love Much Ado and The Tempest. :) And, well, pretty much everything Shakespeare. The sonnets are gorgeous. Who couldn't love such words as "Love is not love / which alters when it alteration finds / or bends with the remover to remove"?

Oops, another lit geek on the rampage.... :)

And, yes, immensely enjoying spring! (Someone stole one of my bushes, tho. It's not an especially lovely bush, but it's gone. Idiots.)

Andrea Laurence AKA Smarty Pants said...

Taming of the Shrew, I think, is my favorite.

Now that they've built that pavillion at the botanical gardens I wish they'd start doing shakespeare in the park here. I loved going to that in LV.

Andrea Laurence AKA Smarty Pants said...

Um...someone stole one of your bushes??

Angel said...

I'd have to say Hamlet. I really enjoyed my Shakepeare class in college.

The kids and I sat out on the backporch yesterday afternoon and ate ice cream after flagging down the local ice cream truck. We need to do that a lot this summer. :)

Angel

Lynn Raye Harris said...

There's a hole where the bush used to be and no bush. Oh, and two bushes just like it still sitting there the way they are supposed to be. I don't get it. I wasn't especially fond of the bush, and if we do this landscaping plan we had drawn up, the bushes will go away anyway. But STILL!

Oh yes, Angel, ice cream from the truck! That's always fun. :)

Kira Sinclair - AKA Instigator said...

I like Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream but my favorite is Two Gentelmen of Verona. But that's possibly because I was in the play in college and had a huge crush on the guy playing one of the leads. Sigh. Good times.

Ice cream trucks don't visit my neighbor hood :-(

Instigator

word verification - uphig. I don't think I want to know. It sounds disgusting...and possibly painful.

Playground Monitor said...

ARGH! Wascally wabbits munched on the new flowers despite the eco-friendly repellent and the fake owl. I will be boiling up a mixture of onion, garlic and cayenne pepper to spray on them. When I buy the garlic, I'm returning the eco-friendly repellent and asking for a refund.

I think my favorite play is The Taming of the Shrew. In 8th grade our English class did a scene from it and I played Katherine (complete miscasting -- I'm neither an actress nor a shrew). Does anyone remember the episode of "Moonlighting" where Cybill Shepard and Bruce Willis played Katherine and Petruchio? A riot!

Cannot believe someone stole a bush. Of course, someone stole 8 ceramic pots in graduated sizes from my front steps at our other house. I sincerely hope they got a hernia from carrying them down the hill or that they dropped on on a toe and now suffer from a permanent limp.

PM

mslizalou said...

I love Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Hamlet, and Romeo & Juliet. I loved my Shakespeare classes in college. Still have all the plays and even read them every once in a while.

It is 80 here right now, and ice cream sounds really good right now. I like springs, but my allergies don't.

Terri Osburn said...

Wow, Shakespeare, Seuss, and bush thieves. You've got it all in this blog today.

My fav would be Taming of the Shrew and I remember that Moonlighting episode. Loved it! But then I loved that show.

We're finally coming out of days of rain but at least the temps are up. I'm loving Spring and eating ice cream out on the balcony (apartment so no porch) sounds like a good idea. Kiddo and I need to do that.

Lynn - thorn bushes. No one will walk off with those.

Katherine Bone said...

I love Taming of the Shrew too. The story is fabulous. I especially love the musical Kiss Me Kate with Howard Keel based on Shakespeare's work. *sigh* Keel was the best, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Kismet, Calamity Jane...

I've always liked Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, especially the movie version with Emma Thompson & Kenneth Branagh, Hamlet, the movie with Mel Gibson & Helena Bonham Carter was stirring, MacBeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

I agree, Lynn! Kenneth Branagh can do anything! Frankenstein, anyone?

Katherine Bone said...

Hmmm. The ice cream truck moves too fast through our neighborhood. I'd have to know he was coming 10 minutes ahead of time in order to flag him down.

Lynn, maybe we need to put bars around our bushes nowadays. Geez! Do we need to sit on our porch with shotguns?

Loribelle Hunt said...

Hamlet is probably my favorite with Taming of the Shrew a real close second.

Lynn, I can't believe someone stole a bush lol! Weird.

Marilyn, thanks for stopping by and you're right. You try to prepare yourself for the worst and hope for the best, but you still get blindsided when it happens. We're all doing okay. Have to admit the agent news didn't hurt my state of mind lol. :)

Anonymous said...

See this weather seduces me into thinking I can actually garden but I can't when it hits 98% humidity.