Your Internet Harbor for Creative Insights on Literature, Writing, Film, Music, and the Home of Queen Shakespeare
Halloween is upon us. Time to milk those last few days out of your decorations (unless you’re like Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion Ride and have overlapping decorations that will take you through the New Year. If so, well done on the planning. And also: Congratulations on recognizing the true meaning of the holidays. So get your
Welcome to the week before Halloween, which means there is still time to stock up on the giant bags of small candy to give to everyone else and get your stash of big candy in smaller available quantities that is only for you. The sugar high will give you fuel to read up more on
Oh, you know, the standard: Fine, whatever, Nightmare on Elm Street it is Oh, okay, classic standard: The Exorcist Ugh, real life is scary enough: 13th HyperNormalisation Gimme Witches: The VVitch Gimme witches but maybe only kinda scary and don’t eat babies: Stardust I prefer a more positive portrayal of my witches: Bell, Book and
What does a Russian literary critic and philosopher have to do with Halloween? Plenty, if you celebrate traditions of dressing up and believing in the power of costume. Mikhail Bakhtin believed people practice Carnivalesque traditions to release the pressure of living under repressive regimes (in displays of power and aggression that were Church-sanctioned, as long
More songs in celebration of our need to uproot and overturn social conventions every now and again by engaging in what Mikhail Bakhtin referred to as the Carnivalesque. October 8 Scary Monsters, Super Creeps—David Bowie I’m the Wolf Man—Round Robin October 9 Ghosts Town—The Specials Frankenstein Stomp—Count Lorry and the Biters October 10
What do we mean by Carnivalesque? Mikhail Bakhtin, Russian literary critic and philosopher, wrote about the Carnivalesque in literature. It is a suspension of rules, practiced during Carnivale (carne-vale, translated as “farewell, meat”) and Mardi Gras, the celebration before the austerity of Lent, and during Halloween. It was a way to acknowledge that despite the
Halloween is a great season. You may love it like I do (or some of my friends, who couldn’t wait for the 1st of October to set out their decorations), or you might be like my mom, who hates this season with the fire of a thousand suns. Perhaps she is more evolved and doesn’t
And Happy 70th Birthday, Freddie Mercury Featuring back to school standards and outliers: Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, Richard III, As You Like It, The Tempest, Richard II, Titus Andronicus “I WANT TO BREAK FREE”—Romeo & Juliet What you need to know: Welcome to 9th Grade English Literature. Teenagers from
It’s also a kind of magic that brings you back for the third round! Featured plays: Coriolanus; A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Titus Andronicus; Romeo & Juliet; Love’s Labour’s Lost; Othello; Richard II; Hamlet; Two Gentlemen of Verona; Macbeth; King John; The Tempest “THE LOSER IN THE END”—Coriolanus What You Need to Know: Coriolanus beats
And…it’s back. Featured Plays: Antony and Cleopatra; Titus Andronicus; Macbeth; Richard II; Othello; As You Like It; Hamlet; Henry IV Part 1; Henry V “KILLER QUEEN”—Antony and Cleopatra By Agostino Carracci, Public Domain What You Need to Know: If you HAVEN’T seen the Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton film (not based on the play technically…), then
It’s a kind of magic when Queen comes together with Shakespeare…
Because the world needed a Shakespeare & Queen mashup.
The Carr Port 