Greetings & Salutations!!

I have writer's block and a wicked vicious headache that just won't go
away, *and* I lost one of my favorite pieces of jewelry yesterday--
poof! Gone without a trace--not even a broken chain to help me locate
it.

I went down to my Mom's in Rhode Island last week to work on fabric
projects; she has way more space and an Ott-lite over her sewing
machine. (it's a super-cool natural, 'true' light that shows colors
exactly as they are...boy, do I lust over that light!)

My husband and I brought the DVD down to hook up and show our recent
acquisitions (Mom is anti-tech; Tolkien would have loved her!) The
double-feature Monday night was "National Treasure" followed by "The
Incredibles." Blonde moment--I don't think we played anything on Tues
or Weds--not counting repeats of the LOTR appendices; thankfully, the
hubster brought loads o' books to read and didn't have to suffer--
much.

He left on Weds because he had to work Thurs; he couldn't get the day
off; my husband's a letter carrier, and even though he was *supposed*
to have Fri & Sat off as his "long" weekend (the days off progress
each week), he had to work them, and returned on Sunday.

Weds after he left: Mom and I went to our fav RI fabric shop and went
hog-wild, and did the grocery-shopping; Thurs, I finished cutting out
squares for a huge baby quilt; we started watching "MacBeth" that
night, but had to stop because of a thunderstorm (tres apropos!).
Friday, we washed 14 yards of fabric that's gonna become my husband's
Grey Gandalf costume (box pleats!), and the double-feature Friday
night was "MacBeth" followed by "Richard III;" god, I love
Shakespeare!

If you have not seen Ian's version of "MacBeth" with Judi Dench, you
must--it will blow any other versions out of your memory. It's a very
dark, almost monochromatic, very claustrophobic, very chilling take on
the play, and doesn't have the dopey coven 'n' Hecate scene in Act 4
(? I think it's a. 4) which Shakespeare didn't write. There are
moments--scary moments--where Ian, Judi, and the three witches are,
very literally, possessed by the characters they play.

In an instant, this actor stops being someone we also know played
Magneto and Gandalf, and becomes MacBeth--possessed with MacBeth's
treacherous ambition, his fears and doubts, his regal facade falling
apart, specifically, the banquet scene where Banquo's ghost appears
(they didn't have the actor playing Banquo appear--Ian was acting to
nothing, since MB was the only one who could see Banquo--made it more
scary). The scene where MacBeth goes to the witches to learn how to
keep the kingship--much more action than Shakespeare ever specified,
and frightening performances from the witches and Ian.

Judi Dench as Lady MacBeth was great; Shakespeare made manifest the
phrase that was written two-and-a-half centuries later: "The female
of the species is deadlier than the male." (Rudyard Kipling) Her
monologue scene, Act 1, scene 5, is wonderful, and you can see just
how ambitious this woman is for her husband. I had learned the scene
for a middle-school talent show (because I was such a blood-thirsty
child!) and because the dialogue is great... "to alter favor ever is
to fear--leave all the rest to me." ...grrr... *and* Judi got to do
some heavy-duty deep kissing and pawing about with Ian...

"Richard III" is Ian's updated version, set in the 1930s; is
absolutely bloody brilliant, both adjectives tres apt. Besides the
fact that it's Shakespeare, the women's costumes were just fabulous
(British actors, costumes, architecture, Shakespeare, kink much?).
It's frightening how well it works, especially considering the real
1930s in England (Edward and Wallis, who became the Duke & Duchess of
Windsor) and Europe (Hitler); Richard becomes a Hitleresque tyrant
until his conscience breaks through and his luck leaves him. The
opening song, "Come live with me," is Christopher Marlowe's sonnet set
to 1930s-type music, and is so cool.

I have to wrap this up, expecting a phone call; *and* the vicious
wicked headache is still here!! Gotta go work on Grey Gandalf's
"underwear"...

"...looking for wizards in all the wrong places..."
DermaWoman