Public Dogma, Private Misdeeds.
Abby arrived Friday night, and on Saturday morning we walked around Boston. Thankfully it was a beautiful day, unfortunately the Athenæum has funny summer hours and was closed all day.
So we walked around with me pointing out pretty architecture and I brought them both to some antiquarian bookstores. We ate ramen for lunch at Men Tei, and all got delicious cold noodles. Afterwards, we wandered out to the North End drank good coffee and ate orgiastic cannoli.
Later in the evening we got take-out sushi from Shino Sushi and walked to the Common for Shakespeare on the Common's presentation of Hamlet. We arrived about an hour before the show and we had to sit ridiculously far away (Phbbb, wannabe Bostonians that know everything!). The people were about the size of Playmobil toys, thankfully they had set up a speaker system so we could hear very well...but...so...far...away.
The set. You can't see if but there was a really cool curved staircase behind the woman's head. The lighting was spectacular and for most of the play the blood-red areas of the set were washed out so it looked white, and they'd use this creeping fade into red at certain events/Hamlet's ranting.
The show itself was really amazing on all levels. I'd actually say it was better than Much Ado About Nothing (A play that I like more) which they did last year. The design, in particular the set, and the presentation of Denmark in a modern militaristic almost fascist country was interesting. The King's ghost was very visually impressive and well-acted. He was large dressed in a very detailed all-white military uniform and moved in a very spooky way. Hamlet was . The show made a lot of changes, but I actually liked them and were enough to keep a weathered Shakespeare-fan on their toes. I could write way too much about the play and everything I liked about it.. The important part was that it was the best show Shakespeare on the Common has done and I've been to most of the shows - because they are free. : D
Pretty Sunset from the Common...
Good times. More pictures on antipeople's journal here. Oh, and this was the first presentation of Hamlet I've ever seen where Polonius wasn't annoying, he was actually pretty fun.
A Nintendo Commercial?!
Nintendo's launching a Theatre trailer commercial hyping their upcoming Nintendo Wi-Fi connection service that's launching this fall. It's actually really quite classy and cool, you can watch it here. I'm not a big fan of the new trend of putting advertisements in before movies, in addition to trailers, but this one is at least classier, prettier, and more clever than those stupid Coke and car advertisements.
No more Goddamn Ribbons!
A Boston-based company has set up what they call 'a ribbon magnet comedy blowout' consisting of many rather hilarious sayings on those ribbon magnets that have replaced traditional Nationalistic in Americans such as actually doing something about issues they care about.
They sell a whole range, probably the best of which is 'I Support More Troops Than You', but they also sell the MEGA-Ribbon that's a whopping 16-inches long and says 'My Ribbon is Bigger Than Your Ribbon'. If these and more weren't enough; they also allow you to customize your own ribbons with text and colors.
Now, all I need is a car. Although, the forums are filled with stories of people who've had their ribbons stolen, or their car damaged by petty Republican mouth-breathing knuckle-dragging antedeluvian Bible-thumpers - who instead of using intelligent debate would rather cowardly damage other people's property. Apparently, the solution is to take them off your car when your not driving it, which does unfortunately reduce your audience.
But hey, nobody said free speech really was free, especially not in America - the land of crazies.
So we walked around with me pointing out pretty architecture and I brought them both to some antiquarian bookstores. We ate ramen for lunch at Men Tei, and all got delicious cold noodles. Afterwards, we wandered out to the North End drank good coffee and ate orgiastic cannoli.
Later in the evening we got take-out sushi from Shino Sushi and walked to the Common for Shakespeare on the Common's presentation of Hamlet. We arrived about an hour before the show and we had to sit ridiculously far away (Phbbb, wannabe Bostonians that know everything!). The people were about the size of Playmobil toys, thankfully they had set up a speaker system so we could hear very well...but...so...far...away.
The set. You can't see if but there was a really cool curved staircase behind the woman's head. The lighting was spectacular and for most of the play the blood-red areas of the set were washed out so it looked white, and they'd use this creeping fade into red at certain events/Hamlet's ranting.
The show itself was really amazing on all levels. I'd actually say it was better than Much Ado About Nothing (A play that I like more) which they did last year. The design, in particular the set, and the presentation of Denmark in a modern militaristic almost fascist country was interesting. The King's ghost was very visually impressive and well-acted. He was large dressed in a very detailed all-white military uniform and moved in a very spooky way. Hamlet was . The show made a lot of changes, but I actually liked them and were enough to keep a weathered Shakespeare-fan on their toes. I could write way too much about the play and everything I liked about it.. The important part was that it was the best show Shakespeare on the Common has done and I've been to most of the shows - because they are free. : D
Pretty Sunset from the Common...
Good times. More pictures on antipeople's journal here. Oh, and this was the first presentation of Hamlet I've ever seen where Polonius wasn't annoying, he was actually pretty fun.
A Nintendo Commercial?!
Nintendo's launching a Theatre trailer commercial hyping their upcoming Nintendo Wi-Fi connection service that's launching this fall. It's actually really quite classy and cool, you can watch it here. I'm not a big fan of the new trend of putting advertisements in before movies, in addition to trailers, but this one is at least classier, prettier, and more clever than those stupid Coke and car advertisements.
No more Goddamn Ribbons!
A Boston-based company has set up what they call 'a ribbon magnet comedy blowout' consisting of many rather hilarious sayings on those ribbon magnets that have replaced traditional Nationalistic in Americans such as actually doing something about issues they care about.
They sell a whole range, probably the best of which is 'I Support More Troops Than You', but they also sell the MEGA-Ribbon that's a whopping 16-inches long and says 'My Ribbon is Bigger Than Your Ribbon'. If these and more weren't enough; they also allow you to customize your own ribbons with text and colors.
Now, all I need is a car. Although, the forums are filled with stories of people who've had their ribbons stolen, or their car damaged by petty Republican mouth-breathing knuckle-dragging antedeluvian Bible-thumpers - who instead of using intelligent debate would rather cowardly damage other people's property. Apparently, the solution is to take them off your car when your not driving it, which does unfortunately reduce your audience.
But hey, nobody said free speech really was free, especially not in America - the land of crazies.