the great gobbler

I sat in the great gobblers patch and waited in the freezing cold and when the big bird showed- he granted my wish- which was for new snow tires- as long as it wasn't gravy for him it was a deal...which was good because my 4 hour trip was closer to 8- but thanks to the new tires I made it without investigating any ditches or having to be on a first name basis with anyone in a tow truck. To all who are traveling this long holiday weekend-drive safe, and have a good Thanksgiving.

another nut job

Inside every genious is a crazy person....Gaiman personifies this. I found myself wondering what kind of cheap drugs he was into. I started out thinking Shalespeare was a giant pain in the butt, but over a zillion readings I have come to understand it. I have been pretty vocal about my dislike of the graphic novel and it doesn't change much with this piece of.....work. What we get here in yet another view into what someone else sees in Shakespeare's words. Without the graphics we can let our imaginations do a bit of work and frame the scene in our mind- the graphics take that away and inject the authors viewpoint.
To take this famous work, and then work it into your own warped view does carry some form of genious, but I couldn't get past the crazyness of it all.

act4 scene 1- Oberon

I just love Oberon and Puck- they are like the Shakespear version of Laurel and Hardy-neither have a clue at times...I chose act IV scene I, Oberon launches into this speech.....Welcome, good Robin.See'st thou this sweet sight?Her dotage now I do begin to pity:For, meeting her of late behind the wood,Seeking sweet favours from this hateful fool,I did upbraid her and fall out with her;For she his hairy temples then had roundedWith a coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers;And that same dew, which sometime on the budsWas wont to swell like round and orient pearls,Stood now within the pretty flowerets' eyesLike tears that did their own disgrace bewail.When I had at my pleasure taunted herAnd she in mild terms begg'd my patience,I then did ask of her her changeling child;Which straight she gave me, and her fairy sentTo bear him to my bower in fairy land.And now I have the boy, I will undoThis hateful imperfection of her eyes:And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalpFrom off the head of this Athenian swain;That, he awaking when the other do,May all to Athens back again repairAnd think no more of this night's accidentsBut as the fierce vexation of a dream.But first I will release the fairy queen.Be as thou wast wont to be;See as thou wast wont to see:Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flowerHath such force and blessed power.Now, my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen.
The version that doesn't make your brain swim on a Monday morning is that Oberon saw Tatianna in the woods and kind of taunted her about being in love with an ass or at least someone with the head of an ass ( so many places to go with this....) she promises to give Oberon the child in exchange for the spells being reversed. Oberon carries through and she is amazed when she wakes up and discovers she'd been sleeping with an ass more or less-Puck is left to clean up the rest of Oberons' mess, because now that she has come to her senses, shes in love with Oberon again- she traded one ass for another but to cover the whole nights misadventures- they are told/decide that the night must have been a dream( shades of Dallas here) and they go on from there. Like I said- its "who's on first" in olde English...anyway.
the language is what it is for the time, its like listening to political speeches- you know there's a point, if you can just shovel enough junk out of the way to get to it.
I think Oberon likes to blame the ills of his world on everyone except him, but there's something about the chutzpah of his chacter that one has to admire.

Oberon gets Pucked

See, this is why if you want something done right- do it yourself, Oberon hatches this great plan(he thinks so) and then enlists Pucks help....dum idea.If he had stuck with plan A it may have been ok, but when Oberon added plan B---welllll, not so good.
Oberon says,"This falls out better than I could devise.But hast thou yet latch'd the Athenian's eyesWith the love-juice, as I did bid thee do?" and Puck,poor Puck, who didn't stop to ask which athenian-bad idea, clarification is good...
Puck is all happy with himself-"And the Athenian woman by his side:That, when I took him sleeping,--that is finish'd too,--he waked, of force she must be eyed."....so in unShakespear- yes I did your dirty work, everyone got the eyedrops and will now fall madly in lust/love with the first thing they see-Tatiana gets an ass-we'll see them on the Shakespear version of judge Judy later, or Maury, Puck has been all over doing Oberons bidding and then......Oberon spots the victims of his interference-
"Stand close: this is the same Athenian."
Puck, then has to admit," This is the woman, but not this the man"......this is where the oh crap line comes in....oopps doesn't even begin to cover it, so while revenge may be best served cold- its better if you do your own serving and not leave to someone else to get totally pucked up

Persopolis

I read everything first and foremost as a writer...its what I do, it is who I am. With each one of the texts we have used in class I look at these and ask--would this have been better served in print only and why. From there I have worked out what I would use for the various assignments. With this book, I think that Satrapi did a terrible disservice to the message she wanted to convey. Most of you, my classmates, are at an age where you were too young to even remember what Iran was and I seriously doubt if it was taught in schools, so here is a whole generation that could have benefited from this story-from the story of her life and the story to be taken away...and instead she hid behind a glorified comic book...yes that is just my opinion but it's my blog so...
The whole 'oh I was a victim' line, I feel, was just a crutch for how she handled her choices in her life. We are all small children with big dreams, and as we age, they usually change, sometimes it is directly linked to actions we take as we grow and mature. The trick is being able to salvage some sense of us and who we are, learn from the "oh crap" moments, and not repeat them.
For me, she was an Iranian version of a spoiled brat-plain and simple. She wouldn't have been happy if her entire family had gone to Vienna( been there, its beautiful,and there is always something to see,do,experience,learn..) she needed something to blame for the choices she made during that time and being in exile from Iran was her excuse.
The back story on Iran and Iraq is where she could have made a difference in the telling, through her words a whole new audience could have seen her homeland through a different perspective. The story of just how the U.S. and England really screwed this one up (which aided in the current mess) is well known there-here in the states its been buried under a zillion tabloid stories of starlets without underwear,who's cheating with who, and who needs a reality show to make a new friend. In the middle east (and many other cultures,)there is a strong oral story telling tradition that we have lost- that is what keeps this tale alive and current for them. It had the potential to be so much more- so for me, it was a giant sized cop out.