LONELYPOND PRESENTS

Bright + shiny new Blink Kitty Love, your favorite crushing band… a Blossom Dearie tribute.

With apologies to Sarah Hemming (and a suggestion that you, loyal reader watch 10 Things I Hate About You, an excellent adaptation of the play we’re about to discuss. It handled the final speech problem very well and retained one of my favorite lines (”I burn, I pine, I perish”).

1. You frequent London.
2. You see interesting plays there.
3. You write about these experiences for my favorite newspaper.
4. Your Taming of The Shrew review has kickstarted my dealing with “The Speech” process.
5. Your Taming of The Shrew review has kickstarted my dealing with “The Speech” process.
6.Your Taming of The Shrew review has kickstarted my dealing with “The Speech” process.
7. Actually, that about covers it as I’m not really a hater — and come to think of it, 1-3 equal good things as I always enjoy the Hemming London Theatre Tour.

So there we are at my alternate office, me with my Taming of The Shrew plan of making the speech Kate’s response to Petruchio’s multiple personality pranking, an alteration of my turn it into a punk rock song plan. This alteration was prompted by the opening of Hemming’s review: “How best to deliver Kate’s submissive speech at the end of Shakespeare’s difficult play? Some directors play it with irony, so that when she says a wife should place her hand beneath her husband’s foot, we know she is saying this only to keep Petruchio quiet. Others suggest there is a sort of conspiracy between the two.”

Which made me think and what I thought was that surely Shakespeare would have had a sense of humor about the whole thing. Kate and Petruchio and everyone else in the play, especially if you include the Sly parts (which I did last time and will not again), slip and slide out of moods and disguises constantly.

My first Taming a mother rushed her two small boys out of the theatre before Kate’s speech, which saddened me. I had told the actress to read it with confidence, which I think was the extent of my advice, which was late in coming because mostly I was thinking “can’t throttle Petruchio” (long story, hi Shane) and “why oh why has this speech been visited upon us”.

So there I was at the alternate office with tea, half a snickerdoodle and my sparkling new humor/irony/wink conspiracy plan but Shakespeare purist that I am, I actually also had a copy of the play and read the speech. And darn that William Shakespeare, it’s amazing and can’t be cut because it’s personal and pointed and specific and so very Kate in a way I really have to figure out before opening night (or better yet, tech). I was with it up to the “I am ashamed that women are so simple/To offer war where they should beg for peace.” I had a flash of Kate the pacifist arguing against strife for strife’s sake. But then it gets personal and she starts empahsizing the weakness of women while DOMINATING the stage and commanding them what to think. The Folger commentary I skip read through points out the fascinating contradiction between how Kate acts and what she says. I believe in Shakespeare. And I think Kate’s stance might have something to do with being the water that wears away the hardest stone, which is actually a position of power but the water never mentions it. Or it might be a severe, very severe case of do as I say and not as I do.

So “Kate of Kate Hall” is a Taoist, a Quaker, a Meglomaniac, a mess of contradictions and fascinating. And there’s an entire play to make that speech work, which is a good thing. And I do have faith in Shakespeare, although his comedy Act V’s require the jamming of too many actors on stage (no wonder there’s so many deaths in the tragedies; it’s therapeutic for the director) and Act I, Scene ii of The Tempest should actually be a prequel play called the Duke Of Milan.

And did I mention, Ms. Hemming, that the play I’m actually directing next is “The Miser” so this is a bit early to be so riled up and have Kate in my head…but it is a fascinating conversation to start so I can almost forgive you.

Good to see the Vanessa Hudgens/Zac Efron contribution to the musical’s revival acknowledged by including them in the Oscar ceremony…would that there had been more singing and dancing by Beyonce and the High School Musical folks and less by Hugh Jackman.

Bought the HSM 3 DVD and enjoyed it; Flash is still fondest of the second, but she did trot in happy and/or worried a couple of times. Really big, well done numbers..a little too big for the small screen, but still enjoyable. “Scream” sticks around as does “I Want It All;” this one not so memorable for the love songs.

And note to Disney: admit High School Musical, the phenomenon, is a miracle of perfect chemistry/timing and don’t wreck the buzz with a fourth. Thank you.

Nice to see Andy Richter on True Jackson…still funny stuff; main character still behaving randomly in the service of comedy, but not the worst sin.

Dadnapped…Phill Lewis rocks; Jason Earles not so much a believable dire villian…really liked that so much was shot outdoors. I sometimes think about putting down some movie ideas and then I think, well, here at Lonely Pond, we’re all about the natural lighting, how the heck am I going to do that outside? Emily Osment did a good job as did David Henrie, Moises Arias, et al but weak in the script department. Trip Traps fun. According to imdb news links, Dadnapped beat Spectacular in the ratings war 4.6 million to 3.3 million.

Hey, the new Miley Cyrus video “The Climb” really impressed us. Sounded good, looked like a CMT worthy production. Seems like Disney’s setting her up for launching a country crossover career and heck, she might be really good at it. So good work and good luck.

iCarly — Fred episode fun, although I agree with Freddie. Liked the ostrich; hated the Fred voices. iLook Alike looks like fun. There can always be more Gibby…best thing about Archuletta episode.

I think this’ll cover me for awhile. Next up, Shakespeare and the a few FT articles that might interest you, but as James Altucher said in his latest column, step away from the computer for awhile and go out and talk to people. On the way to lunch and try that out.

Drew, Nancy Drew…The classic Nancy Drew is apparently too cool and composed and competent and collected and well, cool to take if you are the editor/publisher of the modern version of the girl detective. They had to make her less of a gem. In the newer novels, Nancy is (horror!) disheveled and the kind of girl who runs out of gas and gets rescued by the guy with the tow truck and nagged by Bess, now a master mechanic. Obviously, the traditional Nancy, alpha female of all time, is not a suitable role model for young girls. The Papercutz graphic novels do a bit better and allow Nancy to be stylish, but the new Hardy Boys novels where Frank and Joe are members of ATAC (American Teens Against Crime) and go on secret missions, alternating narrators by chapter, is a much better update than the Nancy Drew novels where action and competence seem to be traded for no, of course I’m not perfect and yes, I do have a rival, just like other girls. Combine Nancy and the Hardy Boys and it gets a little better, but still not enough.

And why the Nancy Drew rant…well, I miss her. I’m looking at the two Nancy Drew graphic novels I picked up at the comic book store (optimistically ordered; the series is now off my pull list) and there’s no challenge, no suspense, no fright, no Nancy conquers all and rescues Ned/George/Bess/Carson Drew far more often than anyone rescues her. And the new novels are even worse. I’ve stopped trying them out at the library, although I did still pick up the latest Hardy Boys for awhile as I like the action and the Joe/Frank interaction. But the 3 part series Murder House put me off that even.

I might try the next Drew/Hardy combo, Club Dread, but only if I happen across it. Until then, I’m sticking to vintage Nancy and Chet Gecko.

Nancy Drew the movie had a nice version of Nancy but did a huge disservice to the story by taking her out of River Heights.

Back to my shelves. We had Gayle’s mom ship her copies up from Kentucky after the disappointment of the movie. Time to enjoy them again. There’s a weekend plan.

Ampersand + font link. Why? ‘Cause they’re pretty.

New stop motion fun Gullible and Twitchy — on wheels; thanks to @AdamSinger for music.

Seems to be happening a lot. Good session with Calvin working on the latest Gullible and Twitchy video “Skate Street.” Lot of fun to do, put the movie through Composite Lab Pro twice to get different speeds and effects, plugged in music by Twitter peep @AdamSinger, a committed fan of the Creative Commons license and finder of some of the best visuals on the web. Waiting for Adam to weigh in on how he thinks his music suits and maybe a tiny bit more cropping, but coming soon to a screen near you.

Jabberwocky apparently needs a retake on the voiceover and eventually we’re going to have to figure out how to swap out large files between us — Calvin suggests MediaFire so I will investigate. In my voluminous free time. Voiceover retake should happen this week and then hand DVD delivery of sound + voice + music. Looking forward to seeing it all together.

Had fun at the concert Friday. Nice venue, pretty good crowd, no smoking (thank you — I hate having to come home in the am and shower to get the smell out of everything) and it is always good to see Jeremy on stage playing. And there was this little red keyboard/synth thing making cool sounds that I want in my office.

Hoping to have a day off tomorrow, avoid the computer, hit the YM, cook something fun and things like that. Need to go to the library sometime; new reading material would rock — suggest an author. Please.

But what you really want to know: Spectacular or Dadnapped, the President’s Day tween TV war…well, I’m little annoyed at The N for switching my Radio Free Roscoe to Degrassi The Next Generation (what no phasers?) and I refuse to get sucked into that soap opera. But mostly I object to the constant stream of Spectacular videos with music I keep hearing in my head but don’t want to remember. Dadnapped looks like a hoot and a good cast, but we might actually opt for the traditional Monday night The Big Bang Theory + Top Gear (Dadnapped will be on again soon, I bet). We’ve been too busy the past couple of weeks for a quiet Monday night and I miss it. Besides Flash is saving her excitement for the promised arrival on Tuesday of High School Musical 3. She’s a big Troy fan. She always wanders into the room when “Bet On It”’s playing with her tail fluffed high and happy.

Disney XD — yick on the commercials, but really impressed with Aaron Stone. Like the lead, the girl next door and the action. Well done. Am getting very fed up with the Phineas/Ferb love. Nice to see Phil of The Future back. Gayle really likes it and I’ve missed the pure malevolence that is Pim. But yick on the commercials.

Have stopped watching smallVille: sadness.

And now, good night. Sleep is really necessary. I forget that sometimes.

Lonely Pond sound effect + music man Jeremy and his fellow Red Sea Radio mates are performing tonight in New Cumberland, PA as part of the Millenium Music Festival. We’re all very excited about their first live show. Check out their music here.

Your favorite crazy crushing band now has their own website, complete with Radio Blink Kitty Love, all the animations and their last.fm playlist . Check it out.

Twitter peeps the world over are throwing a party to raise money for charity: water.

Here’s the main site. Find your city, have some fun, do some good. The party’s already started in New Zealand. Follow along @twestival.