the news from the Canadas

(ivica)

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 WORDS...WORDS, WORDS.... A 1990 Tom Stoppard film (written-and-directed-by films usually have a strong artistic vision) with music by Stanley Myers. Gary Oldman and Tim Roth are actors who portray the two minor characters from a play (Hamlet or My Name Ma'am is Hamlet Not Telemachus) that contains a play (starring Richard Dreyfuss) with the same plot---that contains a play (with puppets) with the same plot.

THESE TEDIOUS FOOLS.... Rosencrantz (a wreath of roses (or a rosary)) and Guildenstern (a corporate star) are the tail and head of the same coin, two supporting actors (extras seems too powerful a word to describe them) rushing from stage to stage (Laurel&Hardy one scene and Vladimir&Estragon another), two charming ontologists stuck (momentarily) in a big Panavision world of phenomena. Their simple brand of English stands in bright contrast to the ShakespeareSpeech of the others around them.

DENMARK IS A PRISON.... Yea well, join the crowd, pal....

I HAVE OF LATE...LOST ALL MY MIRTH.... There's a humour here that deals with the magic of physics and mathematics: the laws of probability, Galileo's falling mass experiment, Newton's apple of gravity, momentum and kinetic energy, wind and steam-powered turbines, pulley mechanics, Archimedes' eureka: specific gravity, and musical notes (but these spindles don't vary in length or mass).

FOR THEY ARE THE ABSTRACT AND BRIEF CHRONICLES OF THE TIME....The wandering troupe of actors (tumblers, pirates, clowns, pornographers, prostitutes....) realizes that to parody real life their (unreal) plays only need three dimensions: love, blood, and rhetoric). The scenes of them acting before the peasants (is Mr. Stoppard having a sly laugh at our expense with these staged scenes?) is great theater---an interactive audience and acting with simple obvious props. However, it doesn't seem fair that Brueghel isn't in the credits for those great peasant scenes that seem painted on the screen when the Hairdresser for Mr. Dreyfuss is!

(TO BE OR NOT TO BE) THAT IS THE QUESTION.... Rosenstern and Guildencrantz play their verbal-badminton game of Questions to while away the time. The rules are simple: only QUESTIONS are allowed. NO statements! NO repetition! NO hesitation! NO synonyms! NO rhetoric! NO non sequiturs! It ain't no Who-Art-On-First but....

ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD.... In the end though, they're just two more poor Yoricks sitting and standing and pondering each other's mortality (rather than facing their own). No it's not enough, to be told so little, to such an end, and finally to be denied an explanation. Exeunt.

[.LECTIO SCRIPTIO ARITHMETICA.]

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