Which Macbeth?

After the holidays, we will start working on Macbeth, and I’d really like you to have read the play by then. Which edition to get, however? Here’s the one I’d like you to buy:

Now, some of you may already have an edition of Macbeth at home. I know far too well how having too many books can be a real burden, so I’ll let you bring your editions, under one provision: if you have another edition, you are not allowed to ask asinine questions about which page we are on. That’s what Acts and Scenes are for, after all.

If you think €11,30 is too steep a price, check out the re-sales here. Please make sure you get the new edition (the cover should look like the one here) and don’t fall for sellers that tell you they will deliver the book in 11-14 days. They ALWAYS take longer.

The bookshops in Munich might just stock this, too.

Have fun reading and have excellent holidays!

Junot Diaz: Boyfriend

I finally broke down and purchased Junot Diaz’ short story collection Drown - after months and months in which my post on the audio version of How to date a browngirl (blackgirl, whitegirl or halfie) was consistently the top post on this blog, I felt I owed a debt to Mr Diaz. Even if I don’t really like short stories.

But now that I have embarked on my Short Story Appreciation Quest, in which I set out to discover the secret of short stories and finally begin to love them now that I am growing old and grey, a small investment like this seemed reasonable enough. Besides, I’d be willing to bet that one of Junot Diaz’ stories shows up in next year’s Abitur (like the Jhumpa Lahiri story today) - in fact, “How to date…” would make for a perfect, perfect test question.

Back to “Boyfriend”, though. This story, while very unlikely to turn into an Abitur question (the language is fairly strong*), was the first one I read in the collection and I am pleased to announce that my quest has begun very well indeed: this is a gem of a story! It is really, really good!

Unfamiliar Colours Extra: Describe this tulip

I’ve been trying to think of a clever way in which I can show off the beautiful stuff growing in my garden on this blog without being completely off topic. So when the lovely Tulip ‘Prinses Irene’ suddenly flushed with colour this week, thanks to the rising temperatures, I had the idea to ask my readers to name all the colours that this amazing plant sports.

Your prize, if you live anywhere near me, is a tulip, of course! If you don’t live near me, I’ll send you a postcard of the picture.

Oh, and googling ‘Prinses Irene’ doesn’t count. Plant people and garden designers and flower arrangers fall over themselves with praise for her…

Edit: Anyone is welcome to take up this challenge!

The better pregnancy movie

One of my oldest friends had her second baby yesterday, and in celebration we watched Knocked Up and laughed a lot. I’m predicting this comedy will be to the late 00’s what When Harry Met Sally was to the late 80’s. Very funny, touching, rowdy without being truly gross, and sharp without being mean. Much recommended. Predictably, I fell in love with the song that is played as the closing credits roll. I really couldn’t care less whether the sun does or does not shine in L.A., but Loudon Wainwright III (father of Rufus and Martha) almost has me convinced…

Grey in L.A. (embedding it just would not work)

I liked this film better than Juno.

James Thurber: The Wood Duck (read by Jonathan Lethem)

I have said unkind things about short stories before, so as I listened to the New Yorker audio of Jonathan Lethem reading (very well indeed) and discussing James Thurber’s The Wood Duck while cycling to work (I was doing the cycling), I tried once again to find out just what bothers me about short stories. Actually, I was hoping for Jonathan Lethem to enlighten me. And in a way, he did.

Campaign Ads IV: Obama in 30 seconds

MoveOn.org, the online political action group currently supporting Barack Obama, has called upon people to make their own 30-second Obama ads. Many people have followed the call and sent in homespun ads, some of which are funny, some of which are clever and many of which are boring. You can vote on them here - unfortunately you can’t browse them, which is why I lost the one I thought was really good - it was called ‘Cleaning Up’ and showed a kid’s room being cleaned up by an invisible hand.

Here’s the story behind it:

And here’s another one from the old Echo Chamber…

For those days when you really like the world you live in

Celebrity Guest Poster: Mr Tulgey Wood on Short Stories

I’m very honoured to present today’s Celebrity Guest Poster: Mr Peter Ringeisen, a charming fellow, fellow teacher and author of the Tulgey Wood blog. He has kindly agreed to answer my desperate questions on short stories:

Campaign Ads III: If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen

Whee-hee! Another exciting primary day is about to dawn in Pennsylvania tomorrow, and again, each of the Democratic candidates is hoping the other one will do badly and then drop out of the race. In a mad last-minute scramble, Hillary Clinton has put out an ad that once again reminds the viewers that holding “the toughest job in the world” is no child’s play.

Among the nasty things that a potential POTUS might face are the following:

• the stock market might crash
• you might have to be the friendly father figure who declares war (that’s F.D. Roosevelt)
• the Japanese might attack Pearl Harbour
• you might be faced with a very expensive Soviet menace requiring a great deal of manpower
• the above-mentioned menace (personified by Nikita Khrushchev) might meet up with the Cuban menace (look at Fidel Castro’s short beard!)
• gas prices might rise
• a number of scruffy vandals might demolish a wall*
• Osama Bin Laden might release yet another video showing him alive and well
• a hurricane might lay waste to a big city
• you might find that your predecessor has sent a lot of troops into two wars
• gas prices might rise (again)
• buildings might fall to ruin (broken windows are a notoriously bad sign)
• people might have to give up their houses after being ruined by the bank

Remind me again, why are these people trying so hard to get the job?

Oh, and have you noticed that neither is any jobholder getting shot nor is anyone flying planes into buildings? Apparently there’s good bad news and bad bad news.

*wasn’t that supposed to be good news?

Unfamiliar colours 6: Scarlet

What can I say? Scarlet is really one powerful colour. Like crimson (coming up soon), it is the colour of blushes and of blood and of sin.

• There’s scarlet fever, of course, formerly a disease to strike terror into the hearts of parents.
• There’s the Scarlet Pimpernel, a charming rogue who struck terror into the hearts of French Revolutionaries*.
• There’s Scarlett O’Hara (she of the emerald eyes), who used to strike terror into the hearts of Southern belles with handsome beaus that she might snatch away to add to her collection.
• There’s The Scarlet Letter, Nathanial Hawthorne’s grand novel about Hester Prynne, the woman who carries her shame (scarlet, of course) proudly.
• I personally like the Elvis Costello song “The Scarlet Tide“, written for Cold Mountain, the movie (in which a lot of blood stains the snow scarlet). The Alison Krauss version is also quite lovely. (Elvis Costello does the tuneless stuff on purpose, by the way)

Oh, and what is that purple doing among all the scarlet?

*plant geek annotation: The German word for Scarlet Pimpernel is “Gauchheil”. Don’t tell me you knew that, or that you ever consciously saw the plant.