June
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 24.0313 Wednesday, 26 June 2013
From: JD Markel <
Date: June 25, 2013 5:15:35 PM EDT
Subject: Re: SHAKSPER: Whedon’s Ado Review
I recommend the film too; I saw it in Santa Monica last Friday. But I am curious about Ellen’s last photo of a lake with palm trees. I don’t remember that in the film. Usually (always?) the view of the backyard “grounds” are a different view; the Santa Monica Mountain range in the far background, expansive grassy tracts mid-range, and Whedon’s backyard-on-a-slope closer in. I can assure the director does not actually own the grassy “grounds” seen, although the film smartly and effectively makes such seem part and parcel of Leonato’s estate.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 24.0312 Wednesday, 26 June 2013
From: Hardy M. Cook <
Date: Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Subject: Interruption and Plays and Festivals
Dear Subscribers,
This will be the last newsletter until July 8th. I will be away without access to the Internet.
Please keep any postings coming, and I will distribute them when I return.
I am especially interested is receiving reviews of plays on the Shakespeare Plays and Festivals: http://shaksper.net/scholarly-resources/shakespeare-festivals-and-plays.
Hardy M. Cook
Editor
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 24.0311 Tuesday, 25 June 2013
From: Ellen Moody <
Date: June 24, 2013 11:54:01 PM EDT
Subject: Whedon’s MAAN
A blog-review recommending it:
http://ellenandjim.wordpress.com/2013/06/24/whendons-much-ado-about-nothing/
All the disparate groups of characters are filmed using the same mood of intense eroticism and sinister insinuation. The choice of black-and-white works, the use of Whedon’s house and grounds.
Ellen Moody
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 24.0310 Monday, 24 June 2013
[1] From: Alfredo Michel Modenessi <
Date: June 21, 2013 12:49:35 PM EDT
Subject: Re: SHAKSPER: Desdemona Unpinning
[2] From: Annie Martirosyan <
Date: Friday, June 21, 2013 3:38 PM
Subject: Desdemona
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Alfredo Michel Modenessi <
Date: June 21, 2013 12:49:35 PM EDT
Subject: Re: SHAKSPER: Desdemona Unpinning
Donne knew what to ‘unpin’, at least in the case of “His Mistris Going to Bed”:
“Unpin that spangled breastplate which you wear
That th’eyes of busie fooles may be stopt there.” (7-8)
Would a ‘breastplate’ be a suitable candidate?
Cheers!
Alfredo.
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Annie Martirosyan <
Date: Friday, June 21, 2013 3:38 PM
Subject: Desdemona
An interesting local development regarding Desdemona. Nothing to do with “unpinning” but the posts on the latter brought to mind this strange connotative extension:
In Armenia, if you happen to see a woman with a lot of tangled curly hair, you can call her “a Desdemona”! I cannot recall Desdemona being described as with a lot of tangled hair (I should add, also untidy, given that the expression has a pejorative connotation, but it is not especially offensive). Also, if a woman’s name is Desdemona she may be an object of childish derision because of the strange associations and the rareness of the name in Armenia. Desdemona’s depiction is one of the most beautiful female portrayals in Shakespeare, so I construe this weird pejorative local connotation is an influence from the Soviet film of Othello (I do vaguely remember something). As Othello prepares to kill her, the actress playing Desdemona appears with her mass of curly, tangled hair about her shoulders (also because it was bed-time).
You can imagine a mother calling her daughter “a Desdemona” as she sits down for breakfast with her messed up curls, right from the bed. It seems I remember some Desdemonian vestiges from my childhood too!
Gramercy!
With all good wishes,
Annie
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 24.0309 Monday, 24 June 2013
From: Annie Martirosyan <
Date: Friday, June 21, 2013 3:38 PM
Subject: Reviews
Below are links to my recent reviews on HuffPost UK Blog of some fabulous recently published books that I thought might be of interest to SHAKSPER.
Ewan Fernie’s terrific The Demonic: Literature and Experience
Sex Before Sex published by the University of Minnesota Press
Laurie Maguire & Emma Smith’s 30 Great Myths About Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s Sonnets DVD by Illuminations
Neil MacGregor’s Shakespeare’s Restless World, the AudioBook
With all good wishes,
Annie