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Wednesday, December 6, 2017

''What is in a name? that which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.''


When I hadn't read Shakeseare, I thought it wouldn't be that hard. When I impulsively bought an old volume of all of Shakespeares works, I didn't think it would be that hard.
And then I read it and it was a lot harder than I anticipated.

Of course I read Romeo and Juliet first. It took me a long time, struggling through the hardly normal dialogues, and the jokes I didn't understand because they where written in Elizebethan context, and the fact that there is ONLY dialogue. It frustrates me that there's just people speaking, but duh, what did you think? It's a play, and plays are meant to be acted. Of course.

Well, on to the point. (I'm going to give each character a turn and make them a bit ridiculous, but don't worry, I will give Shakespeare some praise, because he was one very great writer, despite the difficulty of his text)

Juliet.
Dear Juliet, in fact you are one of the least ridiculous characters. And you are the one that no one listens to. Your parents don't listen to you when they try to marry you off to Paris, and when you ask for delay, they don't listen. Your Nurse listens. To some extent.
Only I don't understand why you are so young (and I don't understand why you fell in love with Romeo, I don't really like him). I do understand however why you are so sad all the time. Nothing goes right. You just wanted to live happily ever after with your Romeo, but the play being a tragedy, naturally it ends tragic and you die.
I must agree with you on the rose speech, though. Anne Shirley said a rose wouldn't smell as sweet if it had a different name, but I must disagree with her. It would still smell the same.

Romeo.
I think what I should say is that you are a sad character also, that you also suffered from the feud between your families that evolved in such a tragedy later on (because you die). But partly, you own it to yourself. First of all by killing Tybalt. Why would you do that if you knew it was wrong? Yes, yes, he killed your friend, and you are sad and shocked, but it shouldn't have happened. And second, your petty cry that you would rather die than suffer banishment? And third, being so utterly hasty in all you decisions, the worst being your decision to buy poison after you heard of Juliet's ''death''. I understand you were sad, deeply sad and desparate, but the hastiness?
Basically you are too hasty, sir.

The Nurse.
First of all, I find it stupid that you have no other name than Nurse. Even Juliet calls you Nurse. Or is Nurse your real name? But you are kind to Juliet, and you help her and Romeo, which is more that I can say of the rest of the people in the play.

The Friar. 
Good, you have a name. Lawrence. You are a good man, but you shouldn't have left Juliet alone with the dead Romeo, despite being afraid of the guards coming.
But, as I said before, you are a good man.

Paris.
It appears you have no compassion. No feelings, other than so called love for Juliet, who is only thirteen. You don't go marry a thirteen year old girl, sir, not even there and in that time. Shame on you.

The parents, Lord and Lady Montague.
Dear mother, you listen. Not always, but you listen to your Juliet. To some extent. And you don't have much of a say in you house of course, with such a husband. You are not so much to blame.
The one who is to blame, is the father. I don't understand how you can be so cruel? Your daughter was young, she didn't want to marry Paris, yet you insisted, forced, became angry to almost violent. And when Juliet lied and said: Fine, I'll marry Paris, you were so pleased and satisfied and basically a horrible person.
Shame on you too.

There are others, but they either die really fast or have little role, so I won't mention them.
Shakespeare, overall, did a really great job in writing Romeo and Juliet. It was kind of short, just a span of three days, which seems weird, but maybe that emphasizes the word Haste, which is sort of the reason everything goes wrong.
And of course everyone dies, but that's part of a tragedy. Diana Barry could have written tragedies like that when she was in Anne's story club, but we aren't talking about Diana now, sorry.

It's complex to read, sometimes complex to understand, but it's fascinating. The themes range from fate to love to hasty action to everything together, there are a lot of arguments for each, and it would be a great study material. And it feels good to finally be able to say: I read Shakespeare.
(O, how utterly smart of you.) Well, thank you ...

Well, I ridiculed a little (I am not that good of a person with ridicule) and I praised a little, so this can be called a post.

*goes back to struggling through The Tempest/Othello/King Lear because why read one at a time?*

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Originality



Good day en I wish you sunshine because it keeps raining here (of course, it's autumn, duh).

Confusing thought in my head.
What is originality? Does it even exist? Does not every thing come from something that came before, isn't there anything new under the sun?

Very confusing. If I dress like this and call myself original, is that even true? Or if I write this book on this or that subject, am I not unintentionally copying someone who has already wrote it before me?
Blah, I sound serious. Like, boring serious.
Is boring original?!
And now I sound utterly weird.

To get to the point: I thought about this a lot. I think everyone gets to a time when they think about it (I hope. Or not hope). Especially when it comes to writing. The fear of unintentional copy, fear you won't be able to say what hasn't already been said, the urge to come up with something new and bright and beautiful and NOT YET EXISTING.

That's probably where one stops because one thinks one is unoriginal and boring and will never become a writer (why isn't writing easy?! It's weird, because writing is 90% hard work and the rest is fun, but you can't just stop writing. That's ... impossible. And on the other hand I wouldn't want writing to be easy, because that wouldn't be right. Aaand now I'm off topic, let's go back, shall we?).

I think ... (here comes the wise opinion that is actually allready said a thousand times before ... that was sarcastic, sorry) ... one should not worry about being original, one should try to be oneself (is that even a word?). Like, write what you want to write, even if it has been written before, because when you write it, it will be different from the other person that wrote it when you where five years old and running through the yard with your little sister.
It's like that quote/saying/wise word: ''no one ever reads the same book.'' Two persons may read one book, but it will be different in their minds.
And since there is only one of you and everyone is unique what you write will allways be different.

Basically I wrote this post for my younger self and for my now self because I had the confusing thought about originality on my mind that I haven't actually answered.

Originality doesn't exist. Not in writing anyways. My opinion, though it may be brought to fall down again because someone comes with an counterargument that says original does exist.

It's still raining. I do hope for a bit of sunshine. Autumn leaves are beatutifull, and so are the sunsets and the fog, but not the rain!

Have a good day. With or without rain.


Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Winnie the Pooh + Writing

Sometimes writing is great. Sometimes it's horrible because it just won't come along. And sometimes it's a mix of a whole lot of things.


So here's a Winnie the Pooh post about writing.
(I realize it's not Period Drama or anything, but I like the Winnie the Pooh characters, they are all so divers and fit perfectly for this post.)


When everything goes perfect: your writing is perfect, your plot is perfect and you're just happy and want to dance around and shout and basically be like Tigger.



When you suddenly have to stop writing because you can't remember anything of the research you did yesterday on how to saddle a horse/when you get lost in all the details that envolve writing about how your story's geography works.



When you really need to write, but you can't start, and time is ticking by and you're sitting there and nothing comes and suddenly you doubt if you'll ever write anything good in your life.



When you read what you just wrote.



When you're writing and not really noticing what's happening around you.



The Eeyore mood you sometimes get for no reason at all



When you're eating and suddenly an amazing idea strikes you.




Despite that, you're secretly very happy to have finished your story, however short it is (I am at least!).


No also I will say goodbye. *quickly presses publish so I won't go talk nonsense that has nothing to do with this post*

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

The Animation Tag

Ruth from Amongst Spring Blossoms made an animation tag! Yay!






The Rules:
Nothing important, just tag some people(your own decision) and answer the questions(hey, it's not forced, remember that!)

Questions:

(Here we go!)

1. Who's your favourite animated herione?

Mulan. She's brave, but also realistic. Second in line would be Rapunzel, because of her enthusiasm, her lively nature.


2. Who's your favourite animated hero?

Eugene. Just ... He's funny, he is sweet, he is honourable (even though he is a thief and a liar in the beginning) and then the way he loves Rapunzel ... The way he changes from Flynn to Eugene, from his pretended him to the real him.


3. If there was to be a sequel(or even a third, fourth or fifth part)(and then I don't mean like Frozen Fever or Tangled Ever After, those short movies, but a real one) of an animated movie, where would you like it to be about?

Ehm. I would like a second movie from Inside Out.
 

4. Which couple from an animated movie do you think is higly underrated?

I don't know ..? I can't think of any Disney film being underrated that I think isn't. But I would like to have seen more of Ellie and Carl together, they are so sweet and happy. I know that doesn't really answer the question, sorry.


5. Which couple do you like the most?

Carl and Ellie. They are the sweetest, most real couple I have ever seen. Look at them! Their story was so beautiful, and they where so happy together.


6. Which song is your favourite?

 Colours of the Wind


7. And if you should choose a song that isn't likely to be chosen by you, one that didn't immediately come up in your mind, but is still a favourite, which one would it be?

To be honest, I don't really know that many Disney songs, so I couldn't answer this one.


8. What animation movie did you first think you wouldn't like, but eventually you did?

Cars, I think. But that was way back, I can't really remember. But I do know I thought Cars was going to be silly, but it actually has a good storyline to it. (Cars 2 excluded, I don't like that one).
 

9. Which two do you always consider as a couple, even though they are not a definite couple, but almost no one else does?

I'd agree with what Ruth said in her answer. I know they aren't a real couple, but there are certain moments in the two movies that I start to think: I could be, or could have been.
 

10. Which girl from an animated movie has the best hairstyle(s)?

Her hair is so beautiful! Not so very realistic though, but I don't care, it's beautiful.


11. Which is the best dress?

Do weddingdresses count? Rapunzels weddingdress is so beautiful!


12. Which sidekick is the best according to you?

Pascal.

13. What's your favourite Disney princess movie?

For now it's still Tangled.
 

14. What's your favourite animated movie(no Disney princess movies included)?

Up! (it doesn't have Disney princesses in it)


15. What is your Disney personality?

This is a great question, I like doing quizes like that! *goes off to do the quiz*

It says: You have a strong inner desire to express yourself, often in public speaking( no thank you. that's Horrible!)acting, writing, or singing (that's true, apart from the singing). You also yearn to have beauty around you in your environment (okay ...)
You tend to be quiet (yes), considerate (hope so),sympathetic to others and fair, though sometimes you  can be quite explosive (how did you guess so accurate?!). You are often very intuitive (oh, how fun). You like detail and order (not too much), and often find change worrisome (okay, that's not always true, I kinda like change). You may sometimes feel insecure or restless (again accurate).
This was so much fun. I'm glad I have some of Rapunzel, I like her.
 

16. Which animated girl do you think looks most like you(in looks, not in character)?




Anna, maybe. Though my hair is more brownish. So Jane from Tarzan could also be accurate.


17. Which statement do you think is true and which not(you know, those things on Pinterest that say ... For example: that Elsa and Anna are Rapunzels cousins, that Tarzan is Anna and Elsa's brother or that the oldest girl from Despicable me is maybe Riley's mom from Inside Out)?

Eh, I have no idea. I do think Elsa and Anna could be Rapunzels cousins. And I don't think the oldest girl from Despicable me is Riley's mom.


18. What animated movie did you exect much of, but turned out to be much worse than you originally thought?

Ice Age 5. Blech. Very stupid. Or the one with the weird white rabbit and the pets. Didn't like that one very much either.


Thank you Ruth, for the awesome tag. I enjoyed answering the questions very much! 

Actually I really want to write another post, but that will have to wait. Three posts in one day is too much. Two is already too much, I think. :)

So, so long!