By Estill Pollock
Rearranging the letters, Othello the Moor of Venice, gives
oh lover felt emotion echo,
a tragedy, divers times acted at the Globe
by His Majesties Servants, practicing upon His Peace
even unto Madness.
The endless mask of photocopied time-tables, study guides.
In the film, Paradise in Harlem, lots of mobsters.
Doll, the nightclub singer, takes a bullet for Lem, who plays
Othello somehow, then sings a couple of songs.
Lucky Millander and his Orchestra, the final act, Desdemona
says don't worry, I'm the type who's going to die in bed.
Black moves first, the game ends when no player can move.
Think on your sins, he says, and she responds they
are the loves I bear to you.
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Not a very eventful day. Folded laundry while watching Dreamgirls, which I loved so much more than I was expecting -- I had high expectations from the stage musical (yes, I am that old) and was ambivalent about Beyonce, but no more...she was terrific and I was particularly impressed at how willing she was not to be the star, playing a character who rises to the top precisely because she is malleable and unobjectionable and blandly pretty and not as powerful a belter as Jennifer Hudson's character. I had heard a lot about how good Eddie Murphy was in the film, but nobody talked so much about how good Danny Glover was, and Jamie Foxx was fantastic. And the women were all superb.
When younger son got home, I took him to the orthodontist -- first time in months, just to make sure the retainer is doing its job. The mall parking lot wasn't too bad but the orthodontist's office was a zoo; I guess everyone wanted to get in before going out of town for the holidays. We stopped in Borders, which had moderately long lines but also lots of registers open...I had a 40% off two-days-only coupon for DVD box sets, so I now own all the Landau-Bain Mission: Impossible seasons, yay! (Would anyone like twelve professional Paramount M:I VHS tapes?)
Watched the off-night Journeyman...is that the last ever? I've lost track of how many they're aired so I'm not sure whether that was all 13 (or even if they finished scripts for the 13 originally ordered before the strike). Spoilers: I have the same problem with this episode that I've had all along with the objectified women -- Livia's going away forever just as she's starting to get interesting and show glimmers of a life of her own, and tonight's stalker story of the week did not bother to develop its female object of attraction even as it was trying to sell her to us as the pivot for the other time traveler's wife. And Katie's sister was Dan's brother with a bitchy edge and Jack's pregnant girlfriend wasn't even around. Even so, the last few minutes were completely riveting and finally we get some hints about the larger arc and...poof, that's it, probably forever! Oh well, it was worth watching while it lasted!
And I have nothing to say about Britney's sister but I just had to share LiveScience's article on how Barbary macaque female monkeys shout during sex because the males almost never ejaculate unlesss the females are yelling their pleasure. Go monkeys!
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